CORONAVIRUS/Taiwan COVID-19 News Briefs: May 29

Taiwan reported 76,605 new COVID-19 cases and another single-day high of 145 deaths on Sunday, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).

Here are some of the new developments regarding the COVID-19 situation around Taiwan on Sunday:

Taipei schools to resume in-person classes on June 6

Taipei City plans to complete its campus vaccination drives for children aged 5-11 by June 3 and will resume in-person teaching in schools at the high school level and below from June 6, Mayor Ko Wen-je (???) said Sunday.

Taipei, along with most other cities and counties in Taiwan, has been holding remote classes since May 23 amid an ongoing COVID-19 surge in the country.

Kaohsiung to open 11 new vaccination clinics for children

The Kaohsiung City government has said it will offer the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 children’s vaccine at 11 vaccination clinics on Monday, while also beginning inoculations on elementary school campuses.

Appointments for children aged 5-11 to receive the shot will be available on the city’s COVID-19 vaccine reservation website from 8 p.m. Sunday, the city government said.

The clinics are located at: Chien-Yu Hospital, Siaogang Hospital, Cishan Hospital, Jianren Hospital, Royal Artemis Hospital, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung Municipal United Hospital, Fengshan Junior High School, the Tzu Chi Foundation’s Gangshan branch, Tzu Chi Kaohsiung Jing Si Hall, and the Kaohsiung Exhibition Center.

Meanwhile, Pingtung County will roll out the Pfizer children’s vaccine Monday on the campuses of Xin-Yi, Ren Ai, and Wan Tan elementary schools, the county government said.

Hualien County, which also plans to begin its campus vaccination drive Monday, said it would require all students to present a negative COVID-19 rapid test result before entering school grounds to receive a shot.

After getting vaccinated, children will receive one free rapid test to use before they return to in-person classes at their school, the county government said.

Hospitalizations down in Taipei area, but rising elsewhere

The number of people in COVID-19 hospital isolation wards in Taipei and New Taipei peaked on May 26 but has since fallen slightly, while hospitalizations in other areas are on the rise, CECC official Lo Yi-chun (???) said Thursday.

As of Sunday, hospital isolation wards in Taipei and New Taipei were 33.6 percent and 34.8 percent vacant, respectively, while 42.9 percent of the 13,589 beds in COVID-19 isolation wards nationwide were unoccupied, according to Lo.

CECC denies Taiwan under-prescribing oral antiviral medications

Health and Welfare Minister Chen Shih-chung (???) responded on Sunday to what he said were concerns among the public that Taiwan was under-prescribing oral antiviral medications to people with COVID-19.

From Jan. 29 through May 27, about 74,000 courses of the drugs — Pfizer’s Paxlovid and Merck’s molnupiravir — were prescribed, accounting for 3.97 percent of the 1.874 million COVID-19 cases during that period, Chen said.

By comparison, oral antiviral medications have been prescribed for 3.27 percent of cases in the United States, 2.78 percent in Japan, 1.99 percent in Hong Kong, and 1.33 percent in Korea, Chen said.

Two new severe COVID-19 infections in children reported

The CECC on Sunday reported two new severe child COVID-19 cases, but said that both had improved with medical treatment and were no longer on ventilators.

One of the patients, a 1-year-old girl, developed a fever on May 25 and tested positive for COVID-19 on May 26, Lo Yi-chun (???), deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division, said at a press briefing.

That day, the girl began experiencing tremors and was taken to the emergency room. She was placed on a ventilator after suffering respiratory distress and falling in and out of consciousness, Lo said.

After being diagnosed with mild inflammation of the brain, the girl was moved to the ICU, where she was treated with immunoglobulins, anticonvulsants, and steroids, according to Lo.

On May 27, the girl fully regained consciousness and was transferred out of intensive care, Lo said, adding that she was now breathing without supplemental oxygen.

The other patient, a 6-year-old boy, tested positive for COVID-19 on May 21 and was admitted to a hospital on May 24, after experiencing a fever and tremors.

On May 25, the boy was diagnosed with a mild inflammation of the brain and was transferred to the ICU, where he was placed on a ventilator, Lo said.

On May 27, the boy’s condition had improved enough that he was able to be taken off the ventilator. He is currently being treated with medication including Remdesivir and steroids and is breathing with a high flow nasal cannula, Lo said.

The two newly-reported cases bring the number of severe COVID-19 infections among children in Taiwan to 22, of which 11 have involved swelling of the brain, or encephalitis. Of the 10 patients who have died, encephalitis was a factor in five, CECC data shows.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel