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80 reported deaths marks day-high for BA.5 COVID-19 subvariant

ROC Central News Agency

10/14/2022 03:34 PM

Taipei, Oct. 14 (CNA) Taiwan reported 80 deaths from COVID-19 on Friday, the most in a single day since the BA.5 subvariant of the disease became prevalent in late August, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).

The CECC also reported 48,205 new COVID-19 infections on Friday, down around 5 percent from a week earlier, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chou Jih-haw (周志浩) said at a press briefing.

With the 80 deaths reported Thursday, the number of COVID-19 fatalities in Taiwan reached 11,766 since the pandemic began in early 2020, according to the CECC.

The number of people reported to have died from COVID-19 in the seven days from Oct. 8 to Oct. 14 was up 12.2 percent from the previous seven-day period.

Severe, moderate cases

The CECC also reported 82 cases classified as severe and 163 as moderate.

Among the newly reported severe cases were three young patients diagnosed with bronchiolitis, encephalitis, and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), respectively, according to the CECC.

Two of three have been discharged from the hospital, and the girl with MIS-C is in stable condition but still hospitalized, according to the CECC.

The CECC said none of the three had received any vaccine jabs, and it urged parents to get young children at least one shot because statistics indicate that children under five years old were the most vulnerable to becoming severe cases.

So far, there have been 247 children under 12 years old who were classified as severe COVID-19 cases, with nearly two-thirds (163 cases) of them below five years old, a trend that has lasted for two months, said Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC's medical response division.

Of the 247 cases, 201 of the children did not get the vaccine, indicating the importance of parents getting their children vaccine jabs, Lo said.

Also, while the pandemic continues to plateau, the death rate of people over 70 years old has shown a small decline, Lo said, citing official statistics.

Regional breakdown

Regionally, New Taipei reported the highest number of new infections on Friday with 9,251, while Taichung had 6,372, Taoyuan 5,158, Kaohsiung 4,980, Taipei 4,849, and Tainan 3,719, according to the CECC.

Changhua County had 2,494 cases, Pingtung County 1,554, Hsinchu County 1,213, Yunlin County 1,192, Miaoli County 1,187, Hsinchu City 1,093, Yilan County 940, and Chiayi County 828.

Keelung City had 759 cases, Nantou County 700, Hualien County 685, Chiayi City 523, Taitung County 346, Kinmen County 191, Penghu County 156 and the Matsu Islands 15, the CECC said in a statement.

Taiwan has recorded 7,063,236 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began in early 2020, including 35,680 cases classified as imported.

(By Chao Yen-hsiang)

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