Taiwan reported 54,929 new cases of COVID-19, including 48 imported, and 48 deaths from the disease on Wednesday, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), which said the ongoing wave of infections was peaking.
Wednesday’s new cases were up 13.3 percent from a week ago and extended to 10 the consecutive number of days in which the daily case number was an increase from one week ago, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Chou Jih-haw (周志浩) said at a press briefing that day.
Taiwan last saw the daily number of new cases exceed 50,000 on June 22, when 52,246 were reported, according to the CECC’s data.
Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the CECC, said at the press briefing that the increase showed the daily number of new infections was peaking but could still rise further.
However, the rise in new cases does not affect the government’s plan to lift mandatory quarantine for arriving travelers to Taiwan on Oct. 13, as well as the current mask mandate, Wang said.
This is because there has not been an emergence of any new variants of the coronavirus that pose a threat, according to Wang.
Taiwan’s opening up of its borders does not mean the pandemic is over, Wang said, urging the public to still comply with disease prevention measures.
Deaths, severe cases
Meanwhile, the deceased reported on Wednesday ranged in age from their 40s to their 90s. All but four had underlying health issues and 23 had not received any COVID-19 vaccine doses, the CECC said in a statement.
With the 48 deaths reported on Wednesday, the number of COVID-19 fatalities in the country has reached 11,280, according to the CECC.
The CECC also reported 59 cases that were newly classified as severe and 161 as moderate.
One of the new severe cases is a boy born on Sept. 28, when his mother was 27 weeks pregnant and had a Cesarean section after she began bleeding and experienced contractions, CDC Deputy Director-General Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞) said during the press briefing.
The infant, weighing less than 1.5 kilograms at birth, was taken to an intensive care unit and tested positive for COVID-19 on Sept. 29, Lo said.
His situation has since stabilized with treatments, and he had a negative COVID-19 test on Oct. 4. The premature boy remains in intensive care because of breathing problems he was born with, according to Lo.
Regional breakdown
Regarding the new cases reported on Wednesday, New Taipei reported the highest number of new infections regionally, with 11,234, while Taichung had 7,018, Taipei 6,351, Taoyuan 6,028, Kaohsiung 5,179, and Tainan 3,614, the CECC said.
Changhua County had 2,777 new cases, Hsinchu County 1,495, Miaoli County 1,364, Pingtung County 1,299, Hsinchu City 1,274, Yunlin County 1,232, Yilan County 1,219, and Keelung City 1,047.
Chiayi County had 902 new cases, Nantou County 777, Hualien County 737, Chiayi City 554, Taitung County 447, Kinmen County 158, Penghu County 145, and the Matsu Islands 23, according to the CECC.
To date, Taiwan has recorded 6,685,516 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began in early 2020, including 35,134 classified as imported.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel
