TAIPEI, May 13 — Covid-19 infections are reportedly continuing to rise in Taiwan, with the country’s Centres for Disease Control (CDC) stating that there were 9,978 outpatient and emergency visits related to the disease between May 4 and 10.
According to a report in Focus Taiwan, the CDC said this figure represents a 66 per cent increase compared to the previous week.
Deputy director Lee Chia-lin reportedly said that although this was the fifth consecutive weekly increase in Covid-19 cases, the number remained far below the 23,324 outpatient and emergency visits recorded during the same period last year.
Between May 6 and 11, six Covid-19-related deaths and 34 severe cases were reported, including an 11-month-old boy from southern Taiwan who was hospitalised with low oxygen levels and later tested positive, according to the CDC.
The child had reportedly shown asthma-like symptoms before being admitted to the intensive care unit and was discharged after about a week of treatment, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching was quoted as saying.
CDC deputy director-general Lo Yi-chun reportedly said that current case numbers amount to around 40 per cent of those seen during the same time last year, but warned that this year’s outbreak is likely to peak in June.
Lo also reportedly noted that last year’s peak occurred in early July, when weekly clinic visits reached 134,000.