The nation’s COVID-19 mortality rate is relatively low and the vaccination rate relatively high compared with Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, after a professor criticized the nation’s COVID-19 death rate.
In a review of data from the 38 OECD countries, along with Taiwan and Singapore, Taiwan ranked sixth-lowest in COVID-19 mortality and case-fatality rates, said Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the center.
At the CECC’s daily news briefing in Taipei, Wang displayed charts illustrating Taiwan’s placement among OECD nations on COVID-19-related metrics.
Photo: CNA
The presentation followed remarks on Saturday by a public health professor who said that the CECC had missed opportunities to lower the mortality rate among people infected with the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2.
Chan Chang-chuan (詹長權), a professor at National Taiwan University’s College of Public Health, wrote on Facebook that the center had failed to implement suggestions from public health specialists, adding that COVID-19 was one of the top 10 causes of death last year, and would continue to be this year if Taiwan cannot effectively reduce COVID-19 deaths.
Chan said that as of Saturday there were 17,453 COVID-19-related deaths, including 16,587 deaths likely from Omicron, and that monthly confirmed deaths in the past several months have exceeded 900.
Wang’s charts showed that Taiwan’s COVID-19 mortality rate is 742.2 per 1 million people, higher only than those of Iceland, South Korea, Japan, New Zealand and Singapore, the rates of which range from 681.5 to 284.7 per million.
Hong Kong’s COVID-19 mortality rate is 1,814.1 per million, while Germany’s is 2,054.8, Italy’s is 3,131.7 and the US’ is 3,456.1.
Taiwan’s COVID-19 case-fatality rate is 0.18 percent, higher only than those of Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Iceland and Singapore, with rates from 0.17 percent to 0.08 percent, the CECC’s charts showed.
Hong Kong’s is 0.47 percent, Italy’s is 0.74 percent, the UK’s is 0.85 percent and the US’ is 1.11 percent.
The data show that Taiwan’s performance is reasonable, Wang said.
With the pandemic entering its late stages, some countries have stopped conducting mass testing and reporting daily infections, so the numbers might not be accurate, but Taiwan continues to report daily cases and deaths, he said.
The criteria for determining COVID-19 associated deaths differs among countries, but Taiwan counts all cases that had COVID-19 infection listed on the death certificate, even if the main cause of death was a chronic illness or comorbidity, he added.
Taiwan’s first-dose COVID-19 vaccination rate is the fourth-highest on the list, at 91.48 percent, and its booster vaccination rate is third-highest, Wang said.
Taiwan and CECC members have been working hard to keep deaths low and boost vaccination coverage, he said, adding that there is always room to improve.
The center welcomes the suggestions of members on the center’s specialists panel, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program committee, as well as many other experts, including Chan, he said.
Regarding improving the nation’s first-dose vaccination rate, Wang said the rate among elderly people is not high enough.
More than half of those whose deaths were related to COVID-19 were unvaccinated, and more than two-thirds did not get a booster shot.
The first-dose vaccination rate among people aged 65 or older is 86.7, said Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), who is deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division.
About 545,000 people in the age group are still not vaccinated, he 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