Reported 7 months ago
Reporters Li Qingying and Lai Yunxiu/Taipei Report on June 11, 2024, at 6:28 PM, there were 328 new local confirmed hospitalizations of COVID-19 cases last week, a 25% increase from the previous week's 263 cases. The spokesperson for the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Tseng Shuhui, announced that the COVID-19 epidemic had entered another pandemic phase, marking the sixth wave since the Omicron variant. It is predicted that this wave of the epidemic will not decline until at least August or September due to the impact of variant mutations and the quantity of vaccine doses administered. Taiwan is currently experiencing a summer pandemic period, and experts suggest that the virus is unlikely to suddenly disappear, with interactions between individuals becoming more frequent and a decrease in mask-wearing rates. As for variant testing, preventive medicine physician Lin Yongqing mentioned that the JN·1 strain remains dominant but is gradually decreasing, with an increase in the KP·2 and KP·3 strains. Professor Huang Limin from National Taiwan University pointed out that compared to previous variants, the JN·1 and KP·2 viruses have stronger immune escape capabilities, resulting in decreased protection for those naturally infected or vaccinated, particularly in the population not vaccinated within three to six months. Amid the low vaccination rate in Taiwan, currently standing at only 11% for the COVID-19 XBB vaccine, there are still 289,000 doses of Moderna XBB vaccine and around 48,000 doses of Novavax XBB vaccine available nationwide.
Source: YAHOO