Taiwan sees 932 severe COVID cases, 64 weekly COVID deaths reported

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

 

Jul. 3, 2024

 

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Tuesday (July 2) reported 932 new severe COVID cases from June 25 - July 1, a 14% increase from the previous week. There were also 64 deaths from COVID. Individuals aged 65 and above account for 79% of the severe cases and 90% of the deaths. 

 

The CDC said the current prevalent variants, JN.1, KP.2, KP.3, and LB.1, possess immune evasion characteristics and higher transmissibility. However, current research shows they have not increased disease severity. 

...

The CDC said the domestic COVID outbreak is worsening and is in the epidemic phase and could plateau in mid-July. The JN. 1 variant is the most prevalent, both domestically and from overseas, accounting for 47% and 38%, respectively. 

 

(more)

 

Taiwan News

https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/news/5898112

 

 

And one week prior from the same news outlet:

COVID hospitalizations in Taiwan increase 31%

Over 800 hospitalizations for COVID reported last week

 

Jun. 27, 2024

 

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Severe COVID cases that required hospitalization increased by 30.9% last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday (June 25).

 

The CDC said 817 COVID cases required hospitalization from June 18-24, a 30.9% increase from 624 cases between June 11-17. Among last week's cases, 79% were individuals aged 65 and above. 

 

There were 40 COVID-related deaths last week, of these, 90% were aged 65 and above.

 

(more)

 

Taiwan News

https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/news/5896139

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 02:59 PM by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Worth noting: the above news report also cites that Taiwan has a very low uptake of the latest XBB variant COVID vaccines, even lower than in the U.S., including for its senior citizens.

 

Specifically:

 

"The [Taiwan] CDC said 2.805 million doses of the XBB vaccine have been administered, with 21,000 doses administered from June 17-23. The XBB vaccination rate is 11.47%, with the first and second-dose vaccination rates for those aged 65 and above 20.74% and 1.79%, respectively."  [emphasis added]

 

By comparison, the latest XBB vaccine update estimates from the U.S. say about 22% of adults have gotten the XBB vaccine, including more than 40% of senior citizens age 65 and above.

 

https://www.cdc.gov/respiratory-viruses/data-research/dashboard/vaccination-trends-adults.html

 

https://apnews.com/article/covid-vaccines-shots-over-65-84bd91f6c51db7bbb334bd18a07e4f3b

 

 

Thailand, by comparison, has no government program to administer XBB COVID vaccines, and privately sourced XBB COVID vaccinations here are likely so few that they're not tracked or publicly reported.

 

So unfortunately regarding Taiwan, it's not any great surprise that they're now reporting increasing numbers of COVID hospitalizations and deaths, largely among the senior citizen population there. Particularly since new research is indicating that the older COVID vaccines, now 1-2 or more years and multiple COVID variant changes later, basically aren't nowadays providing any better protection vs. being unvaccinated.

 

Edited Wednesday at 04:10 PM by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Lorry]

People in Taiwan now wear even less masks than in Thailand. 

Old people usually do wear masks,  but their young relatives don't. 

Since May, masks are not compulsory anymore in healthcare facilities. 

They do sell N95s in convenience stores,  though. 

 

The disinfectant craze of the last years has completely disappeared,  it's hard to find a dispenser, and then it's empty or out of use. 

That's a problem,  because the lack of value Chinese culture puts on cleanliness is what brought us covid in the first place.  

 

And, as mentioned,  the constant barrage of the anti-vaxxers and covid deniers has finally had some effects in Taiwan,  too.