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CECC expects BA.5 cases to peak in September
The Central Epidemic Commander Center (CECC) is forecasting that new coronavirus cases induced by the Omicron subvariant BA. 5 are expected to peak in mid or late September. That is some 10 days earlier than had previously been forecast.
Epidemic commander center head Victor Wang says Taiwan is continuing to see an upward trend in infections, with Wednesday's daily cases increasing by 15.1% compared with last week.According to Wang, the increase in case numbers is an indication that a peak is close and the number of new infections could start to break 30,000 per day from early next week.The CECC had previously predicted a peak in late September or early October, with daily numbers of confirmed cases potentially going as high as 60,000.
Yesterday, the CECC reported 28,570 new coronavirus cases, of which 28,397 were domestic infections.New Taipei is still reporting the highest number of new cases, with 6,313, That's followed by Taichung with 3,393 and Taipei with 3,317 cases. Public health experts says the rise in cases is primarily concentrated in the north and the cases mainly consist of breakthrough infections among people aged between 20 and 49.
The rise is being attributed in part to waning protection from vaccines received last year - and the CECC is advising people to get a second booster shot as soon as possible to increase their level of protection.Eighteen new deaths were reported. The deceased ranged in age from their 30s to their 90s. All but one suffered from chronic illnesses, and eight were unvaccinated against the coronavirus. It brings the number of coronavirus-related deaths here in Taiwan since the pandemicbegan to 9,691.
However, in international Covid news, the World Health Organization says the number of coronavirus deaths reported worldwide has fallen by 15% in the last week while new infections dropped by 9%.In its latest weekly assessment of the Covid-19 pandemic, the UN health agency said there were 5.3 million new cases and more than 14,000 deaths reported last week.
The WHO said the number of new infections declined in every world region except the Western Pacific. It said the predominant Covid-19 variant worldwide is omicron subvariant BA.5, which accounts for more than 70% of virus sequences shared with the world's biggest public viral database.
