TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) confirmed 44,500 local COVID cases on Tuesday (Sept. 20), 247 imported cases, and 33 deaths.
The number of local cases decreased by 4.9% from the same period last week.
Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC's medical response division, elaborated on the four local cases of BA.4.6, which are believed to be the country's first. Lo said that the BA.4.6 variant is more contagious than previous dominant variants and that the four cases had either mild symptoms or no symptoms, which reflects a global trend that the virus' symptoms are getting milder.
Local cases
Local cases included 20,865 males, 23,621 females, and 14 cases still under investigation, ranging in age from under 5 to their 90s.
New Taipei City reported 9,289 cases, followed by 5,877 in Taichung City, 5,229 in Taipei City, 4,091 in Taoyuan City, 3,717 in Kaohsiung City, 2,790 in Tainan City, 2,310 in Changhua County, 1,197 in Hsinchu County, 1,180 in Pingtung County, 1,176 in Yilan County, 1,094 in Miaoli County, 1,088 Yunlin County, 993 in Nantou County, 693 in Hsinchu City, 809 in Keelung City, 758 in Hualien County, 736 in Chiayi County, 478 in Chiayi City, 385 in Taitung County, 197 in Kinmen County, 143 in Penghu County, and 33 in Lienchiang County.
COVID deaths
The 33 deaths announced on Tuesday included 15 males and 18 females ranging in age from their 60s to 90s. All of these individuals were classified as severe cases, 29 of them had a history of chronic disease, and 25 had not received the third dose of a COVID vaccine. Their dates of diagnosis and death ranged from August 7 to Sept. 17.
The center also removed eight deaths from the country's total COVID-19 death tally as four of them were found to be data errors, while the other four deaths were determined to be caused by other factors after autopsy.
Imported cases
The 247 imported cases included 140 males and 107 females, ranging in age from under 5 to their 80s.
Total COVID case statistics
Since the pandemic began, Taiwan has confirmed 6,043,539 cases, of which 6,010,820 were local and 32,665 were imported. So far, 10,604 individuals have succumbed to the disease, with 16 deaths reported among imported cases.
