TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Thursday (Dec. 8) announced that Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC's medical response division, was diagnosed with COVID, making him the last of the major CECC officials to test positive for the virus.
During that day's press conference, Lo was noticeably absent and CECC Head Victor Wang (王必勝) explained that Lo had tested positive for COVID that morning and for that reason would not be able to attend the briefing. On Facebook that day, Lo also confirmed that he has COVID and wrote that he believes he may have contracted the virus from an elderly member of his family who he lives with and was recently diagnosed with the disease.
As for symptoms, Lo stated that he began to experience a sore throat and his voice became hoarse. On Wednesday (Dec. 7), he tested negative for the virus both in the morning and evening, but went ahead and asked for leave and self-quarantined in his home.
That evening, he stated that he experienced hot and cold flashes and a slight fever of 37.8 degrees Celsius. He took another rapid antigen test on Thursday morning and the result came back positive for COVID.
Lo wrote that he completed a diagnosis report via a video consultation and because he has diabetes, he is eligible for a prescription for oral antiviral drugs. On Thursday, a physician prescribed a five-day treatment of Paxlovid for Lo.
He reminded the public that people like him who take Crestor to lower cholesterol should exercise caution as it can interact with Paxlovid. He said his physician recommended he discontinue taking Crestor while being treated with Paxlovid and not resume consuming the former medication for eight days.
He closed by thanking everyone for their concern, and he said that he will need to take leave from the CECC press conference on Thursday and next Monday (Dec. 12).
On June 12, former head Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) tested positive for COVID and CECC spokesperson Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), current CECC head Victor Wang, and Deputy Health Minister Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元) were soon diagnosed with the disease as well. While Chuang underwent home care, Lo took the reins as the acting CECC spokesperson on his behalf and appeared at press briefings solo for a number of days, prompting the media to label him the "chosen one."
Lo is also known as "Taiwan's son-in-law" because he has many female fans who consider him handsome and tune into his daily press briefings to listen to his "sexy voice." Google searches of his name include terms such as "family," "single," "height," "age," and "unmarried."
