COVID-19-related mask requirements could be further eased after the Lunar New Year holiday, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, as it also reported that the Omicron BA.2.75 and BA.5 subvariants of SARS-CoV-2 have become the dominant strains circulating in Taiwan.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Chou Jih-haw (周志浩) reported 15,409 new local cases, about 9 percent down from the number reported on Monday last week, while new imported cases remain relatively high at 223, and 40 deaths from the disease were confirmed.
Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the center, said 151,838 new local cases were reported last week, which is a 15.7 percent decline compared with the previous week.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The daily case trend suggests that Taiwan has passed the peak of its third wave of Omicron infections and new daily cases are dropping, but case numbers are expected to rebound after the Lunar New Year holiday, he said, adding that whether this would cause a “fourth wave” of infections is difficult to predict.
Wang said the center is planning to implement the second phase of mask mandate easing — which would only require masks in “high risk” indoor venues such as hospitals, long-term care facilities and public transportation — after the Lunar New Year holiday, if the COVID-19 situation remains stable.
The center also plans to downgrade COVID-19 as a category 4 notifiable communicable disease, he added.
Since the temporary arrival test requirement for travelers from China was implemented on Jan. 1, out of 22,057 China arrivals, 3,122 have tested positive, leading to a test positivity rate of 14.1 percent, Wang said, citing data as of Saturday.
CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC spokesperson, said 224 people among 2,408 passengers who arrived from China on Saturday tested positive upon arrival, with a positivity rate of 9.3 percent.
Wang said the positivity rate has been decreasing, but the COVID-19 situation in China is still escalating and the virus is expected to spread from cities to rural areas during the Lunar New Year holiday.
Although new variants have not been detected among travelers from China, the testing program would continue until the end of the month, he said, adding that the center would assess whether it should be extended.
He said the genomic sequencing results on 157 virus samples from infected travelers from China showed that 61.8 percent were infected with the BA.5 strain, 36.9 percent with BF.7 and 1.3 percent with BQ.1.
Meanwhile, CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said weekly genomic sequence surveillance data showed that the BA.2.75 subvariant has become a dominant strain, along with the current dominant BA.5 strain.
Of the sequenced imported cases — excluding travelers from China — last week, the BA.5 and BA.2.75 strains constituted 30 percent of the cases each, while the BQ.1 strain made up 20 percent and the XBB strain made up 13 percent, he said.
Of the sequenced local cases, 45 percent were infected with BA.5, followed by 41 percent infected with BA.2.75, Lo said, adding that the two subvariants are likely to constitute most local infections during the Lunar New Year holiday.
The XBB.1.5 subvariant has not yet been detected in Taiwan, Lo said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS