Taipei: Taiwan has officially entered a new COVID-19 epidemic phase after 4,766 people sought treatment for the disease during July 12-18, marking a 66.5 percent increase from the previous week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said Tuesday. During a roughly corresponding period from July 14-20, Taiwan recorded 25 domestic cases of severe COVID-19 complications, including five deaths, CDC spokesperson Tseng Shu-hui stated at the agency's regular press briefing.

According to Focus Taiwan, since October 2025, Taiwan has recorded a cumulative total of 161 severe cases and 23 deaths. Tseng affirmed that Taiwan has sufficient supplies of antiviral medications and vaccines to respond to the outbreak. This includes enough publicly funded oral Paxlovid to treat around 113,000 patients, 18,000 courses of the alternative antiviral Xocova, and 155,000 doses of injectable Remdesivir. The NB.1.8.1 variant has remained the dominant strain in Taiwan for the past four weeks.

The most common symptoms reported include sore throat, cough, nasal congestion or a runny nose, fever, fatigue, headache, and muscle aches. Only a small number of patients have reported a temporary loss or impairment of smell or taste. Elsewhere in Asia, COVID-19 activity is also increasing in China, Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea, Tseng noted.

She added that COVID-19 positivity rates continue to rise across the Western Pacific region, while trends elsewhere in the world are either stable or declining slightly. Globally, NB.1.8.1 remains the predominant variant, followed by XFG and JN.1, she explained. With more people attending large gatherings and traveling during the summer vacation period, the CDC urged the public to maintain good hygiene practices, including frequent handwashing and proper respiratory etiquette.

The agency also recommended wearing medical masks when visiting healthcare facilities, entering crowded or poorly ventilated indoor spaces, or interacting with older adults and individuals with weakened immune systems. Tseng added that eligibility for publicly funded COVID-19 vaccination has been expanded to everyone aged 6 months and older through July 31. Citing studies from the United States and Canada, she emphasized that vaccination remains effective at preventing COVID-19 infection and provides about 50 percent protection against severe illness.