As countries prepare to combat COVID-19 as the disease reportedly has infected over 120,000 people in 100+ countries. Given the geographic adjacency and frequent travellers to and from China, Taiwan is on the frontline of the fight against the outbreak. Surprising many, Taiwan’s confirmed cases of a few dozen thus far are far fewer than initially anticipated. Besides luck, what are Taiwan’s secrets?
Learning from SARS in 2003, Taiwan took precautious measures at an early stage on CONVID-19. On Dec. 31, 2019, Taiwan was alert to the unclear reason of the pneumonia cases in Wuhan and conducted its first cross-ministerial meeting. Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) was activated on Jan. 20.
The first case was found via boarding inspection of fever symptom on flights from Wuhan. Along with the escalation, border control restrictions started late January. Gradually, from early February, passengers with recent travel history to China and other hard hit areas were required to undergo a 14-day home quarantine after entry.
Realizing the virus’ long incubation period and little symptoms for some patients, Taiwan now uses travel history as the key filter to protect the general public. The government integrated the database of its National Health Insurance with that of border entry and exit within 24 hours to create big data analytics. Hospitals and clinics starting accessing this secured data system to help identify infectious cases based on the patient’s travel history and clinical symptoms.
For people in contact with a confirmed case and requiring home isolation, Taiwan health authorities provided them support via instant communication software on a government-provided cell phone. Other applications of technology include an IT map showing mask availability, and an online reporting app to classify passengers with low risk to expedite their entry procedure and passengers with high risk to follow up on their home quarantine.
The CECC holds daily press conferences to update case identification, announce the latest measures and clarify disinformation, to help citizens build confidence, mobilize concerted effort, and curb social impacts. Public and private sectors also team up to manufacture masks to supply the frontline caregivers first and then fairly distribute to the general public. A recent survey shows satisfaction with the government’s response reached 80%.
Two weeks ago, Taiwan researchers successfully synthesized an American experimental antiviral treatment Remdesivir and expect to start its clinical trials soon. On March 8, Taiwan synthesized antibodies that are able to identify the protein causing COVID-19, an important step toward a rapid screening reagent that potentially will shorten the test from hours to 15-20 minutes.
Experts predict the COVID-19 outbreak has yet to peak. Taiwan’s efforts can help prevent a large-scale pandemic. However, Taiwan is precluded from the WHO simply because of political reasons. Taiwan has reported its confirmed cases to the WHO but received no health advice.
Taiwan has requested to participate in the WHO’s emergency meetings and laboratory network but continuously met obstacles. Taiwan was finally allowed to send experts in their personal capacity to join an on-line WHO forum last month.
If the exclusion of Taiwan by any chance creates a loophole in the global health network, it would not only put the 23.5 million people in Taiwan at risk but also endanger the rest of the world.
Facing crises as such, we should put health before politics and leave no one behind. It is in the best interest of the global community to include Taiwan as an important partner in the fight against COVID-19 and other outbreaks.
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