China News Service, September 26. According to Taiwan's "Central News Agency", the number of locally confirmed cases of new coronary pneumonia in Taiwan infected with the Omicron BA.5 variant has accounted for the absolute majority.
The command center said on the 26th that the proportion of BA.5 detected has risen from 59.2% last week to 80.6%; in addition, the laboratory detected BA.5 cases of encephalitis in children for the first time in severe cases.
Luo Yijun, deputy head of the medical response team of the command center, announced at the press conference on the epidemic on the 26th that according to the latest sequencing results, there were 293 new confirmed cases of the new coronary pneumonia Omicron subtype variant on the island, 159 local cases and 159 local cases respectively. 134 imported cases from abroad.
The Omicron BA.5 variant caused a new wave of epidemics on the island. Luo Yijun said that last week, 160 local cases were sequenced for the virus gene, and 128 of them were detected with the BA.5 variant, with a detection rate of 80.6%. It is the absolute majority of mainstream virus strains, and less than 20% are BA.2 strains, and no subtype variants such as BA.4 have been detected.
Luo Yijun said that it is worth noting that the first case of BA.5 encephalitis infection in a child appeared on the island, which was announced on August 31. The 2-year-old boy had no history of chronic diseases and had not been vaccinated.
On August 27, he developed fever, diarrhea and other symptoms, and it was positive using a household quick screen.
The case went to the emergency department on August 28 due to decreased vitality and appetite and fatigue. The body temperature was 40.6 degrees Celsius, and the body convulsed continuously for 30 minutes. There was cerebral edema on the computed tomography of the head, and the diagnosis was suspected encephalitis.
On August 29, he was transferred to the intensive care unit for treatment, and his condition improved. He recovered and was discharged from the hospital on September 14.
Luo Yijun reminded that the epidemic situation on the island caused by this wave of BA.5 mutant strains should not be taken lightly. Taking this BA.5 child encephalitis case as an example, he has not been vaccinated. He calls on parents to bring children who are eligible for vaccination as soon as possible. Complete the vaccination to avoid serious complications.