Response to the Coronavirus Disease-2019 Pandemic: Lessons Learned from the Taiwan Model

Abstract

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), or coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), emerged in December 2019 in Wuhan, China and has since then spurred a global pandemic (Lai et al., 2020). Taiwan and China, separated only by 130 km across the Taiwan Strait, have frequent cross-strait interactions with each other; millions of people travel to and from between the two countries (Wang & Lin, 2020). Considering these facts, Lauren Gardner, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins University, even predicted that Taiwan will have the second highest number of COVID-19 cases among the world using a metapopulation model (Gardner et al., 2020). However, with a population of 23.7 million people, Taiwan leads one of the least COVID-19 cases worldwide. With the help of technology, swift reactions, advanced deployment of resources, and complete transparency, the Taiwan model has made its success. By analyzing the actions taken and how they functioned in Taiwan in preventing a nationwide epidemic, other countries may benefit in understanding how to design better models for the prevention of future epidemics and pandemics.

How Taiwan Succeeded in Containing Its 2021 COVID-19 Outbreak

“…Aside from flight crews, Taiwan has set travel bans for normal passengers and flexibly adjusted its extent according to the condition of global epidemics since 2020 (Wu, 2020). During this outbreak, Taiwan still executed its strict border control policies.…”

“…In early 2020, Taiwan's CECC invented a set of strict contact tracing systems for COVID-19 (Wu, 2020).…”

“…Unlike many other countries, the Taiwan model succeeded in fighting against COVID-19 for more than one year, and there was even no local transmission between April and December 2020 (Chang, 2020;Wu, 2020). The Taiwanese lived a relatively normal life while maintaining their normal social activities during this period.…”

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The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), or coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), emerged in December 2019 and has since then progressed into a global pandemic (Lai et al, 2020). However, the Taiwan model helped Taiwan contain the COVID-19 epidemic successfully for more than one year (Wu, 2020). Unexpectedly, sporadic cases began to emerge late April 2021, causing a large-scale COVID-19 outbreak in Taiwan (Kao, Shuhua, et al, 2021).With the help of technology and reinforced border control, level 3 alert, accessible healthcare system, contact tracing, and quarantines, Taiwan's Central Epidemic Command Center contained the outbreak successfully within two months with the cooperation of the citizens.

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“…The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), or coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), emerged in December 2019 and has since then progressed into a global pandemic (Lai et al, 2020). However, the Taiwan model helped Taiwan contain the COVID-19 epidemic successfully for more than one year (Wu, 2020). Unexpectedly, sporadic cases began to emerge late April 2021, causing a large-scale COVID-19 outbreak in Taiwan (Kao, Shuhua, et al, 2021).…”