Taiwan reported 18,414 new cases of COVID-19 and 48 deaths from the disease on Thursday, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).

The total number of cases represented a 20.4-percent decline from the same day a week earlier, the CECC said.

The deceased ranged in age from their 40s to their 90s. All but six had underlying health issues, while 27 of them were unvaccinated against COVID-19, the CECC said.

Of the 48 fatalities, the youngest person was a woman in her 40s who had gotten three COVID-19 vaccine jabs but had a history of cancer metastasis, deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division Lo Yi-chun (???) said.

Her cause of death was COVID-19 combined with septicemia, Lo added.

Also on Thursday, the CECC reported 144 new cases classified as moderate and 51 as severe.

Regional breakdown

Regionally, New Taipei reported the highest number of new cases with 3,775, followed by Kaohsiung with 2,164 and Taichung with 2,145.

Taoyuan reported 1,989 new cases, Taipei 1,917, Tainan 1,518, Changhua 731, Hsinchu County 576, Hsinchu City 486, Miaoli 426, Yunlin 358, Keelung 354, Pingtung 342, and Yilan 245.

Chiayi County had 231 cases, Hualien 208, Nantou 205, Chiayi City 139, Taitung 96, Kinmen 72, Penghu 33 and the Matsu Islands 14, the CECC said.

To date, Taiwan has recorded 9,284,494 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began in early 2020, including 46,240 classified as imported.

With the 48 deaths reported on Thursday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 fatalities in the country rose to 15,977.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel