TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on Tuesday (Jan. 30) said COVID-related deaths reached a five-month high last week.

It said there were 546 hospitalized COVID cases last week, a slight decrease from the 615 cases reported the previous week. However, there were 64 deaths from the virus, a 45% rise over the previous week and the highest death toll reported in five months going back to September.

Of last week's deaths, 79% were aged 65 or older. Among the 44 who died from the virus in the previous week, 90% were 65 or older.

Based on genomic surveillance data over the past four weeks, 52% of local COVID cases sequenced were infected with the JN.1 variant. This surpassed the EG.5 and the XBB strains, which came in at 35% and 7%, respectively.

Of those tested upon arrival in Taiwan from overseas, 78% tested positive for JN.1, 13% for EG.5, and 7% for BA.2.86.

The CDC said the domestic COVID outbreak is ongoing and is in an epidemic phase. It warned that as the Lunar New Year approaches, with increased gatherings and movement of people, the risk of virus transmission remains high.

To protect individual health, the CDC urged the public to get the XBB.1.5 vaccine as soon as possible.

The CDC said 37,000 people were vaccinated with the XBB vaccine on Jan. 26, setting a new daily record since the vaccination campaign for the XBB variant began at the end of September.

A total of 1.465 million doses of the XBB vaccine have been administered, with the Moderna XBB vaccine accounting for 1.34 million doses, and the Novavax XBB vaccine totaling 125,000 doses.

The CDC said 98% of local cases with complications and 99% of deaths had not received the new jab.