14 COVID-19 deaths recorded in Taiwan over past 7 days: CDC

Taipei, Aug. 11 (CNA) Taiwan recorded 14 COVID-19 deaths and 72 cases involving severe complications between Aug. 4 and 10, the highest weekly total during the current domestic COVID-19 wave, the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said Tuesday.

At a regular news briefing, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said that since October last year, Taiwan has recorded 337 domestic COVID-19 cases involving severe complications, including 42 deaths.

The CDC said there were 24,645 COVID-19-related outpatient and emergency room visits between Aug. 2 and 8, up 27.6 percent from 19,307 the previous week.

Although the number of visits continued to rise, the increase was slower than in previous weeks, when weekly visits jumped by between 66 percent and 117 percent, the CDC said.

The agency revised its estimate for maximum weekly outpatient and emergency room visits to 27,000 from an earlier projection of 51,000 made in late July, while projecting the current wave of outbreaks would peak between mid-August and the end of August.

Lee said that of the 337 severe cases recorded since October, 73.9 percent involved people aged 65 or older, while 84 percent had underlying chronic conditions and 89.6 percent had not received this season's COVID-19 vaccine.

The CDC said about 140,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine remain in storage. All 37,000 vaccine doses currently held by the CDC expire on Sept. 9 and will be distributed on Thursday to local governments after being removed from cold storage, it said.

Globally, Lee said, the COVID-19 positivity rate has been rising, with increases reported in Europe and Africa, while the Western Pacific region has remained at a plateau.

COVID-19 infections have increased in China, Thailand, South Korea, the United States and Japan, while declining in Hong Kong, she said, noting that the dominant COVID-19 strains globally are NB.1.8.1, XFG and JN.1, while PQ.16.1.1 is the dominant strain in Taiwan, the CDC said.