Taiwan reports first BA.4.6 cases

台灣傳出首例BA.4.6病例

BA.5 now accounts for nearly 60% of COVID cases in Taiwan


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Monday (Sept. 19) announced the first cases of the Omicron subvariant BA.4.6, while the BA.5 subvariant has become the dominant strain.

Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC's medical response division, said during a press briefing on Monday (Sept. 19) that genetic sequencing was conducted on 179 local cases, with 106 found to be infected with BA.5, accounting for 59.2%. Lo said the center predicts that the proportion of BA.5 cases will continue to rise.

Of these 106 new BA.5 cases, 49 were in northern Taiwan, 30 in central Taiwan, 25 in southern Taiwan, and two in eastern Taiwan. Lo said that thus far, there have been 430 BA.5 cases and four cases of BA.4 confirmed in Taiwan.

Amid the rising proportion of new cases of Omicron being caused by the BA.4.6 subvariant in the U.S. and the U.K., Lo said there are four local cases of the BA.4 subvariant in Taiwan. Lo said that three are from a family cluster and one was a sporadic case.

According to Lo, genetic sequencing conducted on the four BA.4 cases revealed that they are infected with BA.4.6. Recent studies have found that the transmissibility of BA.4.6 is about 10% higher than BA.5. Lo said that although BA.4.6 may not spread that quickly yet, it is a warning signal and further observation is necessary.

Lo added that seven imported cases are also infected with BA.4.6. Lo said that BA.4.6 cases have continued to rise in the U.K. and U.S. and other countries, but it has not yet become the dominant strain in those countries.

Whether BA.4.6 will replace BA.5 still remains to be seen. What is known is that the efficacy of the Evusheld monoclonal antibody, drug treatments, and vaccines may be further reduced against BA.4.6.