[ad_1]
Thursday 12 November 2020
By Klaus Bardenhagen, Taipei
Right next to China, densely populated and the coronavirus completely under control. Taiwan’s successes raise the question of what Germany might copy. At least for the next pandemic.
When Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen delivered his National Day speech on October 10, he did not try to persevere. Nor did he have to appeal to his 23 million compatriots to endure the restrictions. “This year has been difficult, but also rewarding,” he said. “With unity and perseverance, we have resisted the pandemic and made Taiwan a global role model.”
In fact, word spread about the successes of the democratic island off the southeastern coast of China. Taiwan has not registered even 600 infections so far, not daily, but in total. Since April there have been no domestic infections, only cases brought from outside. There were no blockages at all, and apart from wearing masks more often, life went on normally for most of them. Very few other countries – such as Vietnam, New Zealand and South Korea – have been able to keep the curve as flat.
In the second wave, many are now wondering if and what Germany could learn from Taiwan. The initial advantage can no longer be recovered. Taiwanese authorities were prepared for a pandemic and responded promptly. On December 31, the Robert Koch Institute’s Taiwanese counterpart was alerted and checked passengers in the Chinese city of Wuhan for symptoms while still on the plane. When China officially admitted human-to-human transmission of the coronavirus on January 20, Taiwan activated its crisis center, ten days before the World Health Organization declared a state of emergency.
The fighters of the epidemic were able to quickly contain the first clusters and prevent them from spreading among the population. Since spring – when Europe was just fighting the first wave – the main thing they have to do is make sure no one is introducing the virus from outside.
The location of the island alone is not
As an argument against Taiwan as a role model, it is often said that it is easy for an island to keep the virus out. Indeed, Taiwan has no cross-border commuters nor is it a member of a community like the EU or the Schengen area. However, island states are no better armed per se, as Britain or the Philippines demonstrate.
In any case, more decisive than the question of who else will come to the country is: what happens then? The most important recipe for Taiwan’s success is surprisingly simple: Just like contact persons for infected people, every person who enters the country must be in quarantine, usually for 14 days. In order not to set foot in front of the door, the mobile phone is monitored during this period, without an app or a GPS, but via the location of the radio cell. If it moves too far from the point, it is turned off. If you don’t answer a daily control call, someone knocks on the door.
Because the authorities are serious and impose heavy penalties, quarantine violations fall into the alcohol bracket. Those responsible counter the argument that Taiwan attaches no value to data protection: so far, more than 350,000 people have had less freedom for two weeks. But in return, more than 20 million were able to continue their lives without danger or restrictions. Also, monitoring ends when the quarantine expires. Food deliveries and a daily allowance for Taiwanese who follow the rules should make the time more bearable.
The government has earned the trust
Whether it’s a quarantine or a mask requirement, no one questions the measurements. This is not due to the basic subordination to the authorities, as some in Germany suspect. People understand that in this situation it is beneficial for everyone to come together. Taiwan is a vibrant democracy whose citizens are used to vent their displeasure and take to the streets against everything possible. The government has earned your trust, with visible successes and good reason. For months, the Minister of Health appeared live in front of the cameras every day, answering questions and explaining the measures in detail.
He was also asked why Taiwan hasn’t tested many more for no reason: officially 250,000 corona tests have not been counted, very few compared to Germany. If there are practically no undetected cases in society, the minister explained, the statistical probabilities, then the expected high number of false positives outweighs the benefits. And if there was indeed a hidden spread, symptomatic patients would have reported it long ago and would have been discovered.
Countries like Taiwan, which prevented the virus from spreading from the start, are now in a fundamentally different situation than Germany, for example. In practice, much can no longer be learned – at least in this pandemic, the train to the Taiwan model has long gone.
The adage, “Damage makes you wise” seems to be true: Taiwan was hit by the first SARS outbreak in 2003 and was one of the worst affected countries with 73 deaths. As a result of this shock, it reorganized its crisis response system. Contingency plans for exactly one case like the current coronavirus were ready. At some point, when Covid-19 is defeated, the next pandemic will come. Only then will it become clear what Germany has learned from countries like Taiwan.
The author has lived in Taiwan for more than ten years and has so far witnessed the entire epidemic on the spot.
.
[ad_2]
Source link
