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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 Blood supply critically low, donations needed
A woman donates blood in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Wu Liang-yi, Taipei Times
By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter, with CNA
Blood supplies are running critically low throughout the nation, with only an average of 3.2 days of stock available, especially type A blood, Taiwan Blood Services Foundation data showed yesterday.
A supply of four to seven days is considered low, with less than four days being critical, a level reported by Taiwan’s five blood centers yesterday morning.
The supply of type A blood was lowest, at an average of 2.5 days. Next-lowest was type O, with an average of three days.
Taipei Blood Center planning division head Liu Chun-hong （劉俊宏） yesterday said the center is experiencing a serious shortage in supply, caused mainly by fewer people willing to donate blood during the rainy and cold weather Taipei has experienced in the past month.
Demand has increased due to cardiovascular events triggered by the recent cold weather, Liu said.
The chilly, damp weather has also increased the spread of colds and COVID-19, which renders a person unable to donate blood while infected, he added.
Blood transfusion demand increased by an average of about 500 bags per week in the past two weeks, with about 1,000 bags being used from Monday to Friday last week, Liu said, adding that the supply is expected to remain low given the expected continuation of inclement weather.
Liu is encouraging healthy people to donate blood.
People who have had asymptomatic COVID-19 can donate blood 14 days after the diagnosis, while those who have contracted a cold, flu or COVID-19 with symptoms should wait for 14 days after symptoms have resolved before donating blood, Liu said.
According to the Central Weather Bureau （CWB）, the strength of the current cold spell is forecast to bring temperatures in northern Taiwan down to as low as 7 degrees Celsius this morning,
Temperatures in areas north of Tainan is expected to drop to 9-10 degrees this morning, while the mercury is likely to be higher at 11-14 degrees in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County in the south, and Hualien and Taitung counties in the east, it said.
It has issued an "orange" cold surge advisory for Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan and Hsinchu cities, as well as Hsinchu and Miaoli counties in the north, Yilan County in the northeast, Taichung in central Taiwan, Hualien County in the east and outlying Kinmen and Matsu islands, while a "yellow" cold surge warning has taken effect in Changhua and Nantou counties in central Taiwan, and Yunlin County, Chiayi City, Chiayi County and Tainan in the south.
Under the CWB’s three-level cold surge advisory system, an orange signal indicates temperatures in low-lying areas will drop to as low as 6 degrees or will hover around 12 degrees for 24 hours, while a yellow signal means temperatures in low-lying regions will fall to as low as 10 degrees.
Daniel Wu （吳德榮）, a former CWB Weather Forecast Center director who is now an adjunct associate professor of atmospheric sciences at National Central University, predicted an even lower temperature from the current cold spell, saying the strength of the cold spell is expected to peak today and early tomorrow morning, with temperatures dipping to as low as 5 degrees.
Meanwhile, the Central Epidemic Command Center yesterday reported 15,625 new local COVID-19 cases, 161 imported cases and 40 deaths from the disease.
The local caseload is 8.7 percent higher than that reported on Saturday last week, marking the ninth consecutive day that the daily caseload rose week-on-week.
The center said one casualty was a man in his 30s, who had diabetes and had received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. He tested positive for the virus on June 20, and was found in a coma at home on Sept. 6 and declared to have died of pulmonary edema and pleural effusion. He tested positive for COVID-19 after death, indicating a reinfection.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
People bundle up in Taipei yesterday as they walk along a street in the cold and rain. Photo: Tsung Chang-chin, Taipei Times
