The Taiwanese approach: containing the pandemic without the confinement of the total population主標題:台灣模式:控制疫病不用全國禁錮
The island applied technologies and awareness campaigns次標題:全台應用科技及宣傳提高人民意識
Despite Taiwan’s proximity to China and the millions of Chinese tourists that every year visit the island, Taiwan managed to keep the number of COVID-19 infections very low. Nowadays, Taiwanese people live a relatively normal life without the confinement of the total population; schools, shops, and restaurants are still open. How could Taiwan achieve such success?
The Catalan David Ferrandiz Mont, who lived in Taiwan six years where he pursued a Ph.D. in Public Health (National Yang-Ming University), tells us that the key element of the success of Taiwan is the rapid response and the implementation of preventive measures at the very beginning of the Coronavirus epidemic. Furthermore, he highlights that based on Taiwan’s past experience with SARS in 2003, they created well-organized institutions, such as the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), to coordinate an effective response to future epidemics. These institutions were activated as soon as on December 31st, WHO announced the first cases of pneumonia of unknown cause in Hubei province.
身為加泰隆尼亞人的David Ferrandiz Mont (中文譯名:莫大偉),其取得公共衛生博士學位(國立陽明大學)並居住在台灣六年之久,告訴我們台灣之所以能夠成功管控疫病的主要關鍵在於能夠迅速的反應新冠肺炎疫情,並且在最早時間實施預防措施。再者,他也點出了過去台灣對抗SARS(2003)的經驗,建置了對應機構組織,如中央疫情指揮中心(Central Epidemic Command Center, CECC),來統籌規畫有效的疫病對應。這些機構以及機制從去年(2019)12月31日起即開始啟動運作,而當時世界衛生組織(WHO)才剛宣布中國湖北省第一個未明病因肺炎的首例案例。
Temperature screening體溫篩檢
“They started checking the symptoms of passengers coming to Taiwan from China,” the public health professional tells us. They also used temperature scanners at the airport to identify passengers with fever. After a few days, Taiwanese authorities started to check the temperature of the population at the entrance of public buildings and spaces, such as hospitals, offices, schools, and universities. Restaurants began to provide alcohol to disinfect the hands of the clients at the entrance, and in the MRT stations, they displayed useful information about how to clean hands or use facial masks.
“Technology was crucial to prevent the expansion of the Novel Coronavirus in Taiwan,” David points out. The Government put together data from the National Health Insurance and the National Immigration Agency to identify patients with symptomatology with recent travel history in affected areas. “People at increased risk of being infected were quarantined, and they were monitored; they received calls to check their health status, and their movements were monitored using smart-phone GPS tracking. “Those that violate the home quarantine could face a fine of 30,000 euros”, David says.
Like Spain, Taiwan suffered from face masks shortage. However, the Taiwanese Government took rapid action to solve this problem; they increased mask production and started a mask-rationing campaign. People were allowed to purchase two masks per week.
These timely actions helped Taiwan to control the spread of coronavirus infection, while in Spain, the epidemic is out of control. Therefore, can the Taiwanese model to handle this pandemic be implemented in Spain? Or is it too late? David Ferrandiz insists that we still can learn a great deal about it, particularly when it comes to using technologies to fight this pandemic, and from Taiwanese education and awareness campaigns. “Taiwanese government not only educated people about how to clean hands and other hygiene practices but also provided useful tips to do the grocery shopping safely, for example,” David points out. All these tips could also be very handy for the Spanish population.