TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Amid the detection of the first imported cases of the Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5, a Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) official estimated that these strains will cause a new wave of infections in Taiwan in "several months."
The CECC on Monday (June 13) announced that following sequencing of viral samples, one case of BA.4, a female, has been detected while four cases of BA.5, all male, have been found. When asked by the media on Tuesday (June 14) when the new subvariants would enter the community and cause the next wave of cases, Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC's medical response division said that entering the community is defined as the detection of related cases locally, which has not yet occurred, but warned that such local infections will occur "sooner or later."
Lo said current border restrictions are not comprised of a "completely watertight quarantine." Regardless of the "7+3" or "3+4" quarantine formulas, Lo said that the subvariants will eventually enter the community. Lo expressed his hope that people will implement screening and self-health monitoring, as well as wear masks to reduce the risk of passing the virus on to their families.
In order to delay the entry of new subvariants, Lo asserted that border controls cannot be completely relaxed with no quarantine imposed at all. Lo said BA.2 is currently the main subvariant circulating in Taiwan, with tens of thousands of new cases reported every day.
Lo predicted that while cross-variant immunity and immunity from vaccination are still present, BA.4 and BA.5 will not quickly become the dominant variants. He noted that BA.4 and BA.5 were detected in South Africa in January and February, but they did not cause a new wave of cases until April and May.
The CECC official said new subvariants will not replace current ones with the same rapid pace Omicron surpassed Delta. Lo concluded that it will take "several months" for the new Omicron subvariants to cause the next wave of infections.
