Wed, Dec 20, 2023 page3

• New COVID-19 subvariant makes up 3% of cases: CDC

  • By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
  • • 
    • 
    • 

  The new JN.1 subvariant of SARS-CoV-2 only accounted for about 3 percent of local COVID-19 cases last week, but has the potential to become the dominant strain in the coming months, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, as it urged people to get the XBB.1.5-adapted vaccine to reduce the likelihood of serious complications and death.

  Of last week’s COVID-19 cases, 258 people were hospitalized, 99 percent of whom did not get the XBB.1.5-adapted vaccine, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said, adding that the figure was slightly more than the 232 people who were hospitalized a week earlier.

  Thirty-two people died of COVID-19 last week, none of whom had received the XBB.1.5-adapted vaccine, he said.

  

  Centers of Disease Control Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday.

  Photo: Lin Hui-chin, Taipei Times

  CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said that one of the people who died was a man in his 50s who had a malignant tumor and immune system disorders.

  He had pneumonia, elevated inflammatory markers and hypotension, and died of respiratory failure and septic shock after 20 days, Lin said.

  The man had received four COVID-19 vaccine doses and had contracted the virus once last year, but did not get vaccinated this year, Lin said, adding that his immunity might have waned, and the new subvariants are better at evading the immune system.

  Of the local cases sequenced in the past four weeks 81 percent had the EG.5 subvariant of SARS-CoV-2, while the new JN.1 subvariant only accounted for 3 percent, Guo said.

  EG.5 accounted for 53 percent of the imported cases sequenced, followed by JN.1 at 28 percent and BA.2.86 at 5 percent, he said.

  CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said that JN.1 is a novel subvariant descended from the Omicron subvariant BA.2.86.

  It had been reported in more than 40 countries as of Monday, and accounted for about 60 percent of COVID-19 cases in Singapore, Lo said.

  Evidence suggests JN.1 is more transmissible, but there is no indication that it is more severe than other subvariants or poses an increased risk to public health, he said, citing the WHO.

  Lo added that the WHO still recommends the XBB.1.5-adapted vaccine.

  The number of people infected with JN.1 in Taiwan has not increased significantly, but as it is spreading rapidly in some countries, it has the potential to become the dominant strain in the coming months, Lo said.

  The CDC’s estimate that the next COVID-19 peak can be expected in the middle of or late next month remains unchanged, Lo added.

  A recent study from the Netherlands found that among those aged 60 or older, the XBB.1.5-adapted vaccine is 70.7 percent effective against hospitalization and 73.3 percent effective against admission to an intensive care unit, he said.

  Another study by a research team that included HIV/AIDS researcher David Ho (何大一) found that the XBB.1.5-adapted mRNA vaccine booster not only produces robust neutralizing antibodies that protect against XBB.1.5, but also protects EG.5.1, as well as key emergent viruses, including JN.1, Lo said.
• Most Popular

  • 1

    Typhoon Usagi expected to brush past Taiwan

  • 2

    Land warning issued for Typhoon Usagi

  • 3

    Videos about Taiwan upset China: source

  • 4

    First new MRT line train arrives

  • 5

    Taiwan in Time: The rise and fall of Taipei’s sky bridges