《TAIPEI TIMES》 CECC reports 10 cases, 12 deaths

BACKLOG: The CECC’s system to register COVID-19 deaths malfunctioned after an update last month, leading to 11 fatalities not being reported earlier

By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

The Central Epidemic Command Center （CECC） yesterday reported six domestic COVID-19 cases and 12 deaths, and announced that certain age groups would be offered about 57,000 additional doses of the Moderna vaccine to be administered next week.

Four of the six local infections tested positive during or upon ending isolation, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung （陳時中）, who heads the center.

The infection sources of four of the six cases have been identified, he added.

New Taipei City had four cases, while Taipei and Taoyuan had one each, he said.

Chen said that 89.7 percent of the 14,554 people who were infected with COVID-19 between May 11 and Thursday have been released from isolation after recovering.

The center also reported four imported cases — two men and two women, aged from 30 to 50, who had arrived from Cambodia, China, Spain and the US.

The 12 deaths were seven men and five women, who tested positive for the virus between May 26 and June 24.

The seemingly sudden increase in deaths was due to an error in data collection, Chen said.

COVID-19 deaths are consolidated from several sources, including lists of natural deaths, unnatural deaths followed by a post-mortem examination and in-hospital deaths, he said.

A computer program automatically collects the data and picks out the COVID-19 deaths, Chen said.

However, the program was modified on July 23, and the center found it abnormal that no COVID-19 deaths were detected for several days after the modification, so it checked the system and found that it had failed to consolidate a portion of the data, he said.

As such, 11 of the 12 deaths were supposed to have been reported over the past few days, Chen said.

Of the 12 people who died, all had underlying health conditions and died between July 23 and Friday last week, CECC data showed.

Meanwhile, about 85 percent, or about 439,000 people, of those eligible to reserve an appointment on the national COVID-19 vaccination booking Web site this week had booked an appointment by the 12pm deadline yesterday, Chen said.

They are people in the first three priority groups, pregnant women who received their first Moderna dose more than 28 days earlier, people aged 65 or older, and people in the ninth priority group aged 55 or older who registered for a first dose of the Moderna jab.

An additional 57,000 Moderna doses would be offered to people in the ninth priority group who are aged 53 to 64, and they could book an appointment from 4pm yesterday until 12pm tomorrow, Chen said.

The ninth priority group is for people aged 18 to 64 who have a high-risk disease, a rare disease or catastrophic illness.

The CECC is working with local governments to provide at-home vaccinations for people who are 90 or older, are on bed rest or have a disability, Chen said.

Healthcare providers would assess whether the elderly person’s condition is suitable for a vaccination, and would also wait with them for 15 minutes to observe them after they have received a jab, he said.

About 33,000 workers in designated COVID-19 hospitals who received their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine more than 10 weeks earlier would be eligible for a second dose of the Moderna jab from next week at the earliest, he said.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES