Increase in COVID-19 medical visits slows, peak has passed: CDC

Taipei, June 10 (CNA) The number of patients seeking treatment for COVID-19 totaled 70,182 last week, showing a slowing increase in case numbers, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said Tuesday.

From June 1-7, the number of COVID-19-related medical visits rose 9.3 percent, much lower than the previous week's 49 percent, according to the CDC, which evaluated that the season's epidemic peak has passed.

CDC spokesperson Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞) said at a press briefing that the peak had passed earlier than the originally predicted end of June or early July, suggesting the epidemic may also end a couple of weeks earlier than the projected date of Aug. 9.

This season's peak of 70,000 medical visits was only about half of the 132,000 last summer, Lo said.

However, past experiences also showed that if the epidemic was milder in summer, there may be another surge during autumn and winter, he added.

Moreover, although the increase in medical visits has slowed, the number of new deaths and severe cases reached 25 and 166, respectively, during June 3-9, both the highest weekly figures recorded in 2025.

One of the deaths was a 30-year-old man in northern Taiwan, also the youngest to die from the disease this year, the CDC said.

The man did not have underlying health conditions and had not received any vaccination for COVID-19, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said at the press briefing.

He came down with a sore throat and body aches at the end of May, testing positive for COVID-19 with a rapid test kit. He was admitted to intensive care for suspected myocarditis, but he decided to return home for personal reasons.

He visited the emergency room three days later with altered mental status and was diagnosed with encephalitis. Despite treatment, his condition worsened, and he died about 10 days after hospitalization from severe meningoencephalitis caused by COVID-19, Lin said.