200 Days Without Local Coronavirus Infection, Dead – 7: How Did Taiwan Cope With The Pandemic?

A CNN television report from Taipei shows that life here seems quite normal during a pandemic.

The streets of the city are full of people, restaurants for lunch too.

Although many residents wear masks on the streets, some walk without protective gear.

According to a CNN television report, a couple of months ago, when COVID-19 was recorded on the island, everyone, without exception, covered their mouths and noses without complaint.

Now, as explained, there is more confidence in the government’s decisions to control the situation and some people do not feel the need to wear face masks.

However, according to an article on the Time magazine website, 20 cases of COVID-19 have been recorded in Taiwan in the past two weeks.

Especially from Southeast Asian countries like the Philippines and Indonesia.

Also in countries that initially battled the coronavirus successfully but later saw increased morbidity, such as Singapore and Japan.

What steps have you taken?

According to the CNN news portal, Taipei’s response to the coronavirus pandemic was one of the most effective in the world.

23 million the last local infection (case not imported) by coronavirus on an island with a population of. it was registered on Sunday, April 12, Easter.

A total of 553 cases of COVID-19 were confirmed on the island.

Only 55 of them were not imported, that is, the infection occurred in Taiwan.

7 people died from the infection.

Easter was a major milestone in the United States, as President Donald Trump said a month earlier that he wanted his country to open up and look forward to the holidays.

At that time, 1.7 million people around the world were already infected with the coronavirus. people, 110 thousand were registered. deceased.

According to Johns Hopkins University, there were 45 million people infected with COVID-19 this Friday and the death toll reached 1.1 million.

Taiwan’s achievement in fighting the pandemic was recorded when France and Germany introduced the quarantine, and the United States recorded a record number of new infections – a total of 88,000. cases per day, writes CNN.

The state of Florida, which has a similar population to Taiwan’s of about 21 million, detected 4,188 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday alone.

Taiwan did not need to take harsh measures to stop the spread of the infection, nor did it impose drastic restrictions on civil liberties, as has been done in mainland China.

Instead, the response from Taiwan was swift.

The island’s authorities began screening passengers on direct flights from Wuhan, where the corovirus was first diagnosed, on December 31, 2019.

Then when the virus was talked about and little was reported.

The first case of COVID-19 in Taiwan was confirmed on January 21. Since then, Uhan residents have been banned from entering the island.

All passengers arriving from mainland China, Hong Kong or Macau were screened.

According to the CNN news portal, this happened before January 23, when the quarantine was announced in Wuhan and the city was closed.

Until March, Taiwan banned foreigners from entering the island, except diplomats, as well as those with temporary residence permits or special visas.

Careful contact tracking

Taiwan has advantages that Western countries do not have.

One of them is geographic. Taiwan is an island, which makes it easy for officials to control border crossings.

Taiwan can also take advantage of the experience.

In an interview last month, Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wua said that after experiencing a deadly outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003, Taiwan was working to strengthen its ability to fight the pandemic.

“So when we heard that there were some cases of occult pneumonia in China, patients were treated in isolation, we knew it was something like that,” he said.

According to an article published on the CNN news portal, the Taiwanese government activated the island’s Central Center for Epidemic Management, which was created after the SARS epidemic to coordinate the activities of different ministries.

The government has also expanded the production of masks and protective equipment to ensure their supply.

The government has also invested in massive testing and fast and efficient contact tracing.

The former vice president of Taiwan, epidemiologist Chen Chien-jen, explained that closure is not an ideal option.

He also argued that mass testing schemes conducted in mainland China, where millions of people are screened when multiple coronavirus cases are detected, are unnecessary.

“Very careful contact tracing and very strict close contact quarantine is the best way to stop COVID-19,” Chen Chien-jen said.