The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 266 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, 89 backlogged cases and 10 related deaths.
Of the new cases, 123 are male and 143 are female, from under the age of five to older than 90, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center.
They began experiencing symptoms from May 14 to Saturday, he said.
Photo: CNA
Of the backlogged cases, 42 are male and 47 are female, from under the age of five to older than 80, Chen said, adding that they began experiencing symptoms from May 13 to Thursday.
Of the 355 cases reported yesterday, 193 live in New Taipei City, followed by Taipei with 85; Taoyuan with 24; Taichung, and Miaoli and Changhua counties with nine each; Keelung with eight; Hualien with six; Nantou County with four; Chiayi County with three; and five cities or counties with one each.
Of the backlogged cases, 67 are in New Taipei City, 19 in Taipei, two in Taoyuan and one in Hualien.
Photo: CNA
Of the dead, nine were men and one was a woman. They were aged 60 to 90. They began displaying symptoms from May 6 to Tuesday, were diagnosed with COVID-19 from May 16 to Friday and died from Monday to Saturday.
Chen said the number of backlogged cases has been falling over the past few days, showing that using the National Health Insurance real-time system instead of the previous reporting system has improved the efficiency of tracking confirmed cases.
Hopefully, the pending cases would be cleared this week, he said.
Hospital and Social Welfare Organizations Administration Commission Director Wang Pi-sheng (王必勝), who is also deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division, said that with increased capacity at enhanced centralized quarantine facilities and enhanced quarantine hotels, all Taipei and New Taipei City residents who had tested positive for COVID-19 were expected to be removed from their homes by yesterday.
As of yesterday, there were 1,979 people with COVID-19 staying at enhanced centralized quarantine facilities — 1,184 in New Taipei City, 593 in Taipei and 202 in other cities and counties, he said.
There were about 2,000 available rooms and about 600 rooms would be added in the next three days, he added.
“The enhanced centralized quarantine facilities serve as a buffer between local communities and hospitals,” Chen said, adding that Taipei and New Taipei City have also done a good job increasing the number of enhanced quarantine hotels and rapidly admitting people with COVID-19.
He also said that 260,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine would be distributed to local governments starting today.
The doses are expected to cover all frontline healthcare professionals nationwide, and also people in the second and third priority groups for vaccination in Taipei and New Taipei City, Chen said.
In response to increasing demand for medical treatment, hospitals should admit two COVID-19 patients per room as a general principle, and increase the number of COVID-19 rooms if they have space or equipment limitations, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said.
A limit on the number of healthcare professionals eligible for subsidies would be removed, he added.
Shih said the Ministry of Transportation and Communications has assigned contact people for hospitals to book disease prevention taxis for discharged COVID-19 patients, as they are required to practice seven days of home isolation or self-health management at home.
“More than 6,000 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in Taipei and New Taipei City in the past three weeks, and about 30 to 40 percent of them need to be taken care of in hospitals,” he said, adding that some hospitals near hot spots have exceeded their capacity.
Medical centers in northern Taiwan have also established a “green tunnel” with medical centers in central and southern Taiwan to transfer patients, he said, adding that ambulance fees would be covered by the CECC.
The center has also purchased 15,000 pulse oximeters for people who are under home isolation to monitor their blood oxygen levels, and they are expected to be distributed to local governments on Wednesday, he said.
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