COVID-19 to be renamed in Taiwan with new definition for reported cases

Taipei, Aug. 20 (CNA) The official name of COVID-19 in Taiwan will be changed to "Severe Complicated COVID-19" starting in September, with a revised definition for COVID-19 cases that need to be reported, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said Tuesday.

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the CDC was uncertain what to officially call the disease and therefore named it "Severe Pneumonia with Novel Pathogens," said CDC Deputy Director-General Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞) at a news conference.

After more than four years since the start of the pandemic and observing international trends of monitoring the infectious disease, the CDC has decided to align its reporting and monitoring approach for COVID-19 with that of influenza, Lo said.

Referencing the official name of influenza in Taiwan, "Severe Complicated Influenza," COVID-19's official name will be changed to "Severe Complicated COVID-19" starting Sept. 1, he noted.

For COVID-19 cases that need to be reported to the CDC, Lo said that starting from Sept. 1, the definition will be adjusted to the clinical criteria of "having a fever of 38 degrees Celsius or higher, or respiratory infection symptoms followed by pneumonia or other complications within 14 days, requiring ICU treatment or resulting in death."

Compared to the current definition, the condition of "requiring ICU treatment" is newly added, Lo noted.

The reporting time frame for those cases will also be extended from 72 hours to one week, Lo said, adding that once the new measure is implemented, "infection control staff in hospitals will no longer need to work overtime to report (to the CDC) during holidays or weekends."

He estimated that after Sept. 1, the number of weekly reported cases will account for approximately 5 to 10 percent of the current number of weekly reported cases.

The adjustments will not affect patients' eligibility for publicly funded medication, Lo said, adding that Remdesivir and other oral antiviral drugs will continue to be covered by public funding, "with no distinction between reported and unreported cases regarding coverage."

Meanwhile, 274 new domestic COVID-19 cases with severe complications were recorded between Aug. 13 and Monday, down from 347 cases the previous week (Aug. 6 to Aug. 12), according to CDC's Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳).

The number of deaths from the virus also decreased from 57 to 45 the previous week, Lee said.

Lo said the number of domestic COVID-19 cases with severe complications has been declining for six consecutive weeks, and the CDC expects to announce the end of the sixth COVID-19 epidemic phase in Taiwan next week.