TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on Tuesday (Jan. 9) said there were over 123,000 outpatient and emergency room visits for influenza last week — nearing a 10-year high.

Lo Yi-chun, spokesperson for the CDC, said COVID and influenza-like outbreaks will continue to rise over the next three weeks and reach their peak one week before the Lunar New Year (Jan. 28-Feb. 3), per Yahoo .

Lo estimated that during this time the number of doctor visits for influenza-like symptoms in a single week will reach 150,000. This would be second only to the 200,000 doctor visits in a single week affected by the H1N1 flu from 2015 to 2016.

CDC physician Lin Yung-ching said the number of outpatient and emergency influenza-related visits from Dec. 31 last year to Jan. 6 this year was 123,614.

Lin said that over the past four weeks, adenovirus accounted for more than 40% of the respiratory pathogens isolated by contract laboratories. This was followed by the influenza virus (29.8%), and parainfluenza virus (11.9%), while other respiratory viruses, including respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and COVID, continue to circulate in the community.

Lin said the predominant circulating influenza virus is influenza A subtype H3N2. Meanwhile, the proportion of influenza B virus has remained stable.

Lo said that over the past few years, widespread mask usage has resulted in a concentration of respiratory viruses that people would have otherwise contracted earlier.

Lin said there have been three new cases of flu-related deaths. The youngest among them was a woman in her 40s from northern Taiwan with a history of diabetes who did not receive the influenza vaccine this season.

The CDC said that as of Jan. 8, more than 6.36 million doses of publicly funded influenza vaccines had been administered in Taiwan. This includes 2.192 million elderly people over 65 years old with a vaccination rate of 52.3%.

Lo said that among the six special municipalities, only Kaohsiung has reached its vaccination target. He urged the elderly to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

Since Nov. 26, the CEC has implemented the "Fixed-Point Monitoring and Encouraging Testing" measures for symptomatic travelers entering Taiwan from China, Hong Kong, and Macau. As of Jan. 7, 347 people have been tested, with 250 individuals testing positive.

Among the positive cases, influenza accounted for 68.4%, and COVID accounted for 14.8%.