Well, it’s been months since we last posted an article, 8 months to be exact, and a lot has happened, we got married, and COVID-19 penetrated the whole world with fear and most people would think, will we still be able to go back to the world pre-COVID? Well, we’re already at the 2nd half of 2020 and going back to normal has a different meaning now.
COVID 19, a global health crisis that struck the world unprepared, is still rampant to this day. Let’s have a recap, shall we? According to World Health Organization (WHO), It is a respiratory disease and most infected people will develop mild to moderate symptoms and recover without requiring special treatment. The virus spreads primarily through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Common symptoms of COVID 19 include fever, tiredness, dry cough, shortness of breath, aches and pains, and sore throat.
It was late 2019 that this virus emerged in Wuhan, China and since then spreads to every country, every continent. This pandemic has been moving like a wave, cases are increasing heavily on a daily basis causing some countries to implement lockdown. Every day, individuals and businesses are losing jobs and income without knowing when will this pandemic be over. Events like concerts, weddings, birthdays, school classes and graduations are cancelled so as to avoid contact with people. While tourism businesses like hotels, restaurants, and airlines are limiting their services or even closing it down. COVID-19 surely hurt the economic and political status of every country.
It’s been late, but we wanted to talk about a country that many, thought to have one of the highest infected people as they are just so close to mainland China where the virus has originated but just recorded less than 500 cases as of August 4, while others rose to millions. This country responded so quickly that it managed to stop the spread for the first months of the rise of the virus. Of course, we’re talking about TAIWAN. Drawing from their experience with SARS in 2003 and H1N1 in 2009, the country has developed extensive new strategies to manage the pandemic. From the moment that emergence of a new virus has been reported late last year, the Taiwan’s National Health Command Center (NHCC) acted quickly.
So how did Taiwan deal with COVID-19 in the country?
1. Quick screening implementation and strict border controls
Taiwan was one of the first countries to quickly screen people traveling from Wuhan, China. Suspected cases and passengers displaying symptoms were quarantined at home and were closely monitored. By January, they immediately banned flights from Wuhan and barred all exports of facemasks as to ensure safety to its citizens. On February, they distributed most of these masks to primary and secondary schools with hand sanitizers and thermometers. From the start, their priority was none other than, their people.
2. Advanced technology for early viral detection
Taiwan leveraged its national health insurance database and integrated it with its immigration and customs database to begin the creation of big data for analytics. It generated real-time alerts during a clinical visit based on travel history and clinical symptoms to aid case identification. It also used new technology, including QR code scanning and online reporting of travel history and health symptoms to classify travelers’ infectious risks based on flight origin and travel history in the past 14 days. To closely monitor people under quarantine, electronic trackers were installed to them since arriving from the airport and imposed 100,000 to 1 million fine for violators to make sure they didn’t break quarantine rules.
3. Teamwork between the people, hospitals, and government
While other countries were criticizing their government, have lack of hospital equipment and front liners, and spending their money for other reasons, everybody took this seriously and surprisingly did their part for the betterment of their country. There is a close coordination with the central government and its hospitals. And because of their nationalized healthcare system and technology, the island’s major hospitals have been very diligently sharing test data and results to each other, allowing a collaborative effort to find the best ways to fight the virus itself while reporting its findings to the central government. Its citizens are so obedient in following the government’s guidelines and instructions. They social-distanced, have faith and trust in their government from day one. The results? Taiwan didn’t lock down. Schools, shops, and the economy still remained open up to this day. If you’re a resident here, you can basically still tour around Taiwan’s beautiful sites and as long as you know the safety measures.
4. The healthcare system
To be able to understand its healthcare system, it’s basically a mandatory health-insurance that covers every Taiwan citizen and residents. Because of this, people are not afraid to get checked to the hospital. They are not worried that they can’t afford the hospital as they can get a free test because of this. If isolation is an option, during these 14 days, food, lodging and medical care are supported by the government. The system also assures that the supply of medical masks is enough for everyone.
5. Quick information accessibility
Due to the daily briefings to the public, and simple health messaging, the government was able to reassure the public by delivering timely, accurate, and transparent information regarding the evolving pandemic. Its radio and television stations were task to broadcast hourly public-service announcements about the virus, including how they should prevent the infection and how it spreads to the community.
Providing transparent information and sufficient medical knowledge to its citizens lessens panic, makes them feel safe, and improves trustworthiness onto the government. With this in place, their people knew how to safely protect themselves from the virus and started safety practices by their own.
There is even a detailed information on how they control COVID-19 from the start posted in Taiwan Centers for Disease Control website.
These are just 5 of the many reasons on how amazing this country in fighting COVID-19. Majority of the news that came from the first 7 months of 2020 have been about the virus and how the world economy collapsed because of it. It’s never too late. Taiwan already set an example for all the countries worldwide in flattening the curve. If we all help each other, we could stop this. To keep everyone safe, it takes an entire country to achieve it. Not just the government, the hospitals, but it starts with me and you.
Hi Johnson! Taiwan is indeed a great place, especially its people. Hopefully, this pandemic will soon be over. Keep safe there 🙏
Thank You for this Information. I hope Philippines will also follow the same guidelines but again it will always starts within oneself. Congratulations Taiwan 🇹🇼 I myself would agree on these statements since I am fortunate enough to travel Taiwan and People there were just simply amazing as a whole.