CORONAVIRUS/Taiwan's weekly COVID-19 infections down 3%, mostly BA.5

Taipei, Sept. 26 (CNA) The number of COVID-19 infections in Taiwan dropped last week for the first time in over a month, falling by 3 percent from a week earlier, with cases caused by the BA.5 subvariant making up 80 percent of the total, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).

According to data released by the CECC on Monday, Taiwan recorded 278,187 new COVID-19 cases in the week Sept. 18-24, or an average of 39,741 per day.

The numbers mark a 3 percent drop from the 286,852 cases reported a week earlier, and the first time in six weeks -- since Aug. 7-13 -- that Taiwan has not recorded a week-on-week rise in infections, the data shows.

Meanwhile, DNA sequencing conducted on 160 domestic COVID-19 cases last week showed that 128, or 80 percent, were caused by the BA.5 subvariant, up from 59.2 percent the week before, CECC official Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞) said at a press conference.

The CECC previously said it expects the current surge in BA.5 cases to peak in late September, and that it will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation this week ahead of the planned lifting of the mandatory quarantine for arriving travelers on Oct. 13.

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