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.
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
Taiwan is planning to expand the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-based X-ray imaging to customs clearance points over the next four years to curb the smuggling of contraband, a Customs Administration official said. The official on condition of anonymity said the plan would cover meat products, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, large bundles of banknotes and certain agricultural produce. Taiwan began using AI image recognition systems in July 2021. This year, generative AI — a subset of AI which uses generative models to produce data — would be used to train AI models to produce realistic X-ray images of contraband, the official
RSS