TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan Centers for Disease Control Spokesperson Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) spoke at a press conference on Wednesday where she said there were 94,000 outpatient and emergency room visits associated with flu-like illnesses last week, an increase of 16% from the previous week.
Tseng said the data leads the CDC to expect the flu to soon reach epidemic levels later this week. Flu accounted for 10.8% of all emergency room visits last week, very close to the epidemic threshold of 11%, with the epidemic expected to reach its peak around the Lunar New Year, per CNA.
CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said there were six new deaths last week (all related to H1N1), ranging in age from their 40s to their 80s. Four individuals had not been vaccinated against the disease.
Additionally, 23 new cases of severe influenza complications were reported last week, ranging in age from their 30s to 80s, of which 17 had not received this season's influenza vaccine.
CDC official Tsou Tsung-Pei (鄒宗珮) said cooperation with Academia Sinica’s Institute of Statistical Science found the flu vaccine during the 2023-2024 flu season had 75% effectiveness in protection from severe complications and 65.7% protective power against death within 30 days of immunization.
Tseng reminded the public that with the onset of winter, respiratory viruses are more active, and social activities such as Christmas and New Year's Eve increase the risk of transmission. As of Monday, approximately 5.7 million people have been vaccinated with publicly funded flu vaccines, lower than the 6.25 million people vaccinated in the same period last year.
In addition, the national flu vaccination rate for the elderly over 65 years old is 43.9%, 8.2% less than the same period last year. For this reason, the CDC is calling upon the elderly and other members of the public to get vaccinated as soon as possible.