TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) confirmed 28,210 local COVID cases on Monday (Sept. 19), 239 imported cases, and 31 deaths.
The number of local cases increased by 11.3% from the same period last week.
Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC's medical response division, said among the 179 PCR-based pool testing for COVID-19 diagnosis of local cases performed last week, 59.2% were infected with BA.5 and 40.8% with BA.2. The new COVID variant BA.4, which is now dominant in the U.S. and is more infectious than BA.5, was not detected among local infections last week.
Taiwan performed a meta-analysis to estimate the percentage of infections among SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant-positive individuals.
Local cases
Local cases included 13,177 males, 15,017 females, and 16 cases still under investigation, ranging in age from under 5 to their 90s.
New Taipei City reported 6,028 cases, followed by 3,517 in Taichung City, 3,403 in Taoyuan City, 3,232 in Taipei City, 2,166 in Kaohsiung City, 1,567 in Tainan City, 1,488 in Changhua County, 907 in Hsinchu County, 709 in Miaoli County, 693 in Hsinchu City, 687 in Pingtung County, 630 Yunlin County, 569 in Yilan County, 566 in Keelung City, 560 in Nantou County, 434 in Hualien County, 357 in Chiayi County, 265 in Chiayi City, 195 in Taitung County, 121 in Penghu County, 90 in Kinmen County, and 26 in Lienchiang County.
COVID deaths
The 31 deaths announced on Monday included 14 males and 17 females ranging in age from their 40s to 90s. All of these individuals were classified as severe cases and had a history of chronic disease, and 16 had not received the third dose of a COVID vaccine. Their dates of diagnosis and death ranged from June 6 to Sept. 16.
Imported cases
The 239 imported cases included 131 males and 108 females, ranging in age from under 5 to their 70s.
Total COVID case statistics
Since the pandemic began, Taiwan has confirmed 5,998,860 cases, of which 5,966,385 were local and 32,421 were imported. So far, 10,579 individuals have succumbed to the disease, with 16 deaths reported among imported cases.
