FINGER-POINTING: Delays in school vaccinations are a trickle-down effect of the WHO delaying recommendations, the CDC said, amid accusations of inefficiency
Taipei Times
Date: Dec 25, 2019
By: Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
The number of emergency hospital visits for flu-like illness has exceeded the epidemic threshold,
Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Guo Hung-wei gives an update on the latest influenza situation at the Centers for Disease Control in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Lin Hui-chin, Taipei Times
A total of 100,442 hospital visits for flu-like illness were reported last week — up 7.6 percent from a week earlier — of which 11.8 percent were emergency-room visits, surpassing the epidemic threshold of 11.5 percent, CDC Intelligence Center Deputy Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said.
There were also 55 cases of serious flu complications, including five deaths, confirmed last week, the highest weekly number since the flu season began in October, he said, adding that most of the cases were caused by the A(H1N1) virus.
Although the epidemic period started two weeks earlier than in the previous two years, it is not considered an abnormal phenomenon, CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said.
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