Taiwan’s death toll from COVID-19 hit another single-day high Friday as 213 deaths from the disease were reported by the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) along with 68,347 new COVID-19 cases.
The 213 deaths set a new single-day, topping the 211 deaths reported Thursday, and brought the total number of people in Taiwan who have died of COVID-19 complications since the pandemic began more than two years ago to 3,797, according to CECC data.
The deaths reported Friday involved people ranging in age from their 40s to over 90, and included 197 who had chronic illnesses or other severe diseases, and 85 who had not been vaccinated with any dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, the CECC said.
Beyond the deaths, the CECC said that 209 previously reported COVID-19 cases had developed into severe infections, and another 344 had developed moderate symptoms of the disease.
Among the new severe cases was a 6-year-old girl, who was diagnosed with multisystem inflammatory syndrome-children (MIS-C), the third MIS-C case recorded in Taiwan, the CECC said.
Lo Yi-chun (???), deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division, said at a press briefing that the girl did not have any prior underlying health conditions and tested positive for COVID-19 using a PCR test on May 5 after displaying symptoms.
After she finished her quarantine on May 13, all her signs were normal except for a mild cough, Lo said.
She developed a fever of 38.5 degrees Celsius on May 30, however, and the fever continued for the next three days, and she began feeling nauseous on June 2, prompting her parents to take her to a hospital emergency room, Lo said.
The girl was admitted to the hospital and diagnosed with MIS-C, Lo said, adding that she is now undergoing treatment in an intensive care unit, and her condition is getting better.
Of the 2,665,809 domestic cases reported in Taiwan this year, 3,457 have been classified as severe infections and 5,735 as moderate, accounting for 0.13 percent and 0.215 percent of the total, respectively, according to CECC data as of June 9.
In all other cases, the patients were either asymptomatic or had mild infections, the CECC said.
On Friday, Taichung reported the highest number of new domestic cases, 10,032, followed by Kaohsiung with 9,864, and New Taipei with 8,858.
Tainan recorded 6,291 cases, Taoyuan 6,081, Changhua County 5,088, Taipei 4,891, Pingtung County 2,989, Hsinchu County 1,748, Yunlin County 1,597, Nantou County 1,530, Miaoli County 1,509, Hsinchu City 1,272, Chiayi County 1,266, and Yilan County 1,259.
Hualien County reported 1,063, Keelung 965, Taitung County 806, Chiayi City 753, Penghu County 230, Kinmen County 198, and the Matsu Islands 21.
To date, Taiwan has recorded 2,762,080 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began in early 2020, including 2,748,669 domestic infections and the rest imported from abroad.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel