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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 Majority of virus deaths occur within three days
People line up for COVID-19 tests in Kaohsiung’s Lingya District yesterday. Photo: CNA
By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
About 47 percent of people whose deaths were related to COVID-19 this year have died within three days of testing positive, while 33 percent died within three to seven days, the Central Epidemic Command Center （CECC） said yesterday.
Centers for Disease Control （CDC） Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang （莊人祥）, the center’s spokesman, said 66,247 new local cases, 36 imported cases and 40 deaths were confirmed yesterday.
As the number of daily confirmed cases has dropped in the past four days, from 90,331 cases on Thursday last week to 66,247 cases yesterday, the center was asked if Taiwan has reached the peak of a wave of infections caused by the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2.
Daily caseloads usually drop during the weekend, so the situation still needs to be observed, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung （陳時中）, who heads the center, said, adding that cases have not spiked in the past few days, indicating that the situation is being controlled well.
He said 130 moderate cases and 43 severe cases were confirmed, and seven previously moderate cases became severe yesterday, adding that 740 severe cases, including 583 deaths, account for 0.06 percent of the local cases reported this year.
“We have found that the standard we used for classifying severe cases might be a bit strict ... causing the rate to be relatively low,” so the center plans to discuss it with specialists, Chen said, adding that the standard for moderate cases is relatively clear, including treatment recommendations.
Centers for Disease Control （CDC） Deputy Director-General Philip Lo （羅一鈞）, deputy chief of the CECC’s medical response division, said that among the deaths reported yesterday, two were children under the age of five.
One was an eight-month-old who was unable to wake up from a nap at home, Lo said, adding that his family called 119 and took him to an emergency room, but he had no vital signs upon arrival.
A postmortem examination found no injury, but he tested positive for COVID-19, although the course of the disease is unclear, he said.
The other case was a three-year-old boy who had a fever and tested positive on Monday last week, but the fever rose to 41.3°C and he had cyanosis of the limbs, Lo said.
The boy lost consciousness and had neck stiffness, muscle spasms, pneumonia and brain edema when he arrived at hospital, Lo said, adding that he developed complications including hypoxic encephalitis, arrhythmia and neurogenic shock, and died on Friday.
Lo said the three-year-old boy is the sixth case of acute encephalitis among children infected with COVID-19 this year.
The center urged parents to watch for the eight early signs of acute encephalitis in children.
Lo said there is a three-layer system for admitting pediatric cases, including 60 hospitals in charge of “green channels” for children, 26 emergency response hospitals for moderate-to-severe cases, and six children’s hospitals and 16 medical centers to accept the most severe cases, including children with encephalitis.
Asked to confirm reports yesterday of a four-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy dying from COVID-19, Lo said they were severe cases with encephalitis reported on Thursday last week and on Sunday, and that their deaths were reported by attending physicians at a CDC conference on Saturday.
He said the center received the boy’s death report yesterday afternoon, and the cases are to be considered after a review of the data.
Chen said while the number of deaths of children is relatively low, the percentage of encephalitis cases is high compared with nearby countries, which the center is also to discuss with specialists.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
