Winter flu causes five more deaths in Taiwan

   TAIPEI, Feb. 4  -- Taiwan recorded five deaths due to serious flu cases last week as the winter flu season remains at its peak, the island's disease control agency said Tuesday.
   The five deaths were all senior citizens, aged between 51 to 90, who had chronic diseases and failed to get vaccinations, the agency said in a press release.
   About 102,000 people went to hospitals for flu treatment from Jan. 26 to Feb. 1, down 13.5 percent from the previous week, with about 22.2 percent being emergency cases, still much higher than the 11.5-percent benchmark that defines a flu epidemic, according to the statement.
   Over the past four weeks, about 84.6 percent of the flu cases were caused by the influenza A/H1N1 virus.
   Since Oct. 1, 2019, the island has recorded 858 serious flu cases, of which about 43 percent were elderly people above 65 and 32 percent aged 50 to 64. A total of 61 deaths have been caused by the virus.  Xinhua