CORONAVIRUS/Taiwan reports 1,727 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths

04/19/2022 02:31 PM

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Health Minister Chen Shih-chung at Tuesday's COVID-19 press briefing. Photo courtesy of the CECC

Taipei, April 19 (CNA) Taiwan on Tuesday reported 1,727 new COVID-19 cases as well as one new severe infection and two deaths from the disease, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).

The new cases included 1,626 domestically transmitted infections -- another single-day high and the fifth consecutive day on which local cases have topped 1,000 -- as well as 101 cases contracted abroad.

The CECC also reported one new severe COVID-19 infection involving a patient in his 90s.

Of the 11,494 domestic cases recorded nationwide from Jan. 1 to April 18, 43 have been classified as moderate infections and four as severe, accounting for 0.4 percent of the total, while the other cases were either mild or asymptomatic, according to the CECC.

New Taipei reported the highest number of new domestic cases with 583, followed by Taipei with 287, Taoyuan with 197 and Keelung with 148.

Hualien had 74 cases, Kaohsiung 64, Yilan 61, Taichung 50, Tainan 45, Hsinchu City 27, Hsinchu County 20 and Pingtung 17.

Miaoli and Changhua reported 12 cases each, Yunlin and Taitung eight cases each, Nantou four, Chiayi County and Lienchang County three each, Chiayi City two and Penghu one, the CECC said.

The figures do not include imported cases reclassified as domestic ones, nor retroactively removed cases. As of April 19, Taiwan recorded 13,164 domestic cases in 2022, while the total number of imported cases rose to 9,889 from 2,375 on Dec. 31.

Meanwhile, of the 101 new imported cases, 89 of them were travelers who tested positive on arrival to Taiwan, according to the CECC.

The new fatalities reported Tuesday were a man in his 90s and a two-year-old boy, who was the first child under the age of 18 to die from COVID-19 complications in Taiwan since the pandemic began, the CECC said.

The boy from New Taipei City, who tested positive on Friday, developed brain stem encephalitis caused by septicemia from the COVID-19 infection, before passing away early Tuesday, the CECC said.

To date, Taiwan has confirmed 37,710 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began in early 2020, including 27,767 domestically transmitted infections, CECC data shows.

With the two deaths reported Tuesday, the number of fatalities from COVID-19 in Taiwan rose to 856.

(By Matthew Mazzetta)

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