CORONAVIRUS/Taiwan's 4th Omicron wave likely to peak in late June, early July: CDC

Taipei, May 30 (CNA) Taiwan's fourth wave of COVID-19 infections fueled by lineages of the Omicron variant is likely to peak in late June or early July, with around 80 percent of cases involving people contracting the disease for the first time, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said Tuesday.

From May 24 through Tuesday, Taiwan recorded an average of 209 moderate to severe COVID-19 cases per day, representing a slight increase over the previous week's daily average of 203, the CDC reported at a press briefing.

Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 fatalities averaged around 20 per day from May 21 to 27, up slightly from 18 per day during the previous seven-day period, the CDC said.

Of the 4,904 moderate to severe COVID-19 cases reported so far in May, 2,416 of them, or 49 percent, had not received three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, including 1,684 who had not received any vaccine doses, the agency said.

In terms of COVID-19 trends, CDC Deputy Director General Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞) said case numbers are likely to continue to rise in the coming weeks, before reaching a peak in late June or early July.

Assuming that serious COVID-19 cases account for 1 percent of all infections, the actual number of daily cases is most likely around 20,000 to 25,000, Lo said.

According to Lo, the CDC estimates that 15-20 percent of Taiwan's COVID-19 cases at present -- or around 3,000 to 4,000 cases per day -- are reinfections, meaning that the other 80-85 percent involve people contracting the disease for the first time.

During COVID-19 surges, the majority of cases are typically first-time infections, Lo added.