CORONAVIRUS/Taiwan reports COVID-19 deaths in children after 10-month gap

Taipei, March 5 (CNA) Taiwan reported two rare cases of COVID-19-related deaths in children ages 12 years and younger last week, breaking a 10-month streak without such fatalities, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on Tuesday.

One of the deaths involved an unvaccinated one-year-old girl from northern Taiwan with no underlying medical conditions, CDC physician Liu Yu-cheng (劉裕誠) told a press conference.

The girl, who was hospitalized in early February due to convulsions, died three weeks later of a COVID-19 infection complicated by acute encephalitis, Liu said.

The other case was a six-year-old girl from central Taiwan, who had a history of chronic neurological disease, according to Liu.

The girl sought medical treatment after developing symptoms such as fever, coughing, and shortness of breath in late February, Liu said.

However, her condition deteriorated upon returning home and she suffered sudden cardiac arrest and succumbed to COVID-19 complicated by pneumonia, even though the hospital had been unaware she had contracted COVID-19 when they sent her home.

The CDC recommended parents have their children vaccinated against the virus, adding that the current available XBB shots could also protect them against fast changing COVID-19 subvariants such as JN.1.

According to the CDC, 70 individuals died of COVID-19 in the week Feb. 27-March 4, eight cases lower than the week before.