{"id":3939,"date":"2021-09-04T09:37:35","date_gmt":"2021-09-04T02:37:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indowhiz.com\/articles\/?p=3939"},"modified":"2022-09-30T22:00:40","modified_gmt":"2022-09-30T15:00:40","slug":"see-taiwans-strategy-for-dealing-with-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.indowhiz.com\/articles\/en\/see-taiwans-strategy-for-dealing-with-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"See Taiwan’s Strategy for Dealing with COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

My name is Ida, I am currently a student at NCU, Taiwan. Who would have thought, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic spread very quickly in Wuhan China, at the end of 2019. I and other Indonesian students who study in Taiwan is worry before. Because considering that China and Taiwan are very close. However, now I feel safer living in Taiwan during this pandemic. We know that Taiwan’s location is very close to China. But, Taiwan has successfully become one of the countries that can cope with COVID-19 very well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you want to know how the steps taken by the Taiwanese government in dealing with Covid-19? Please refer to some explanations here. Starting from the beginning of the 2020 pandemic period until the following increase in cases in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Beginning of the Pandemic in Taiwan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Since there was news of the COVID-19 pandemic, Taiwan immediately imposed some fairly strict regulations. These regulations apply to all citizens living in Taiwan as well as immigrants who will enter Taiwan. Some of the regulations that Taiwan implemented in the face of the COVID-19 attack in this early period included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prohibiting Foreign Nationals from Entering Taiwan<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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At the beginning of the pandemic, there were also restrictions on direct flights to and from China, Hong Kong, and Macau [1]. Even flights from certain airports will be suspended. In addition to people from China and its surroundings, Taiwan has also been added to the list of countries being monitored due to the high spread of COVID-19 there. For example citizens of South Korea [2], Italy [3], Iran [4].<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Even entering mid-March 2020, Taiwan added its warnings to 42 countries from Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, and North Africa [5]. In the end, Taiwan also restricted immigrants from the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand [6]. In addition, people who are allowed to enter Taiwan are required to be tested for COVID-19 before and after quarantine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Implementing Quarantine<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If Taiwanese citizens or foreign nationals hold a valid Taiwan Resident Certificate but have visited or resided anywhere in China, including Hong Kong and Macau, they may still enter Taiwan. However, there are some strict regulations that must be followed, namely self-quarantine for 14 days at their respective homes [1]. In this case, the Taiwan Government is able to provide compensation of USD $35 per day for its citizens who are quarantined [7].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adding School Holidays and Working From Home<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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At the beginning of the pandemic, school and university activities were in the semester break. Due to the Covid-19 case that began to spread, the government added a holiday for 1 month. In addition, offices have also started to work from home (WFH). This regulation doing to prevent the COVID-19 spread in crowded places like schools or offices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community Activity Restrictions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In addition, community activities are restricted for a while during the COVID-19 pandemic. Such as sports fairs activities and religious activities. On the other hand, the restriction also applies to activities involving large numbers of people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mobile Application Development<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Since the pandemic, a lot of research has been carried out including the creation of the Contact Tracing application [8] and the Taiwan Social Distancing App [9] which are made with artificial intelligence and big data technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Taiwan Social Distancing App is one of the apps I used during the COID-19 pandemic in Taiwan. This application is quite easy to use, does not need to register, does not take any data from users, and does not need to fill in personal information. You are only asked to download and turn on Bluetooth.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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How Taiwan Social Distancing App Work?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The way these applications works is quite simple, namely detecting cellphone users who have been positive for COVID-19 or who have interacted with COVID-19 patients using Bluetooth. If we don’t make contact with COVID-19 sufferers, there will be a “No exposure detected” notification every day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we unknowingly interact with COVID-19 sufferers, this application will also provide notification of COVID-19 exposure to users. Then, the application will provide instructions to contact the nearest health bureau in an effort to reduce the spread of COIVD-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is The Benefit?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This application really supports social distancing. So that if we are detected to have interacted with COVID-19 sufferers, we are asked to keep our distance and not to do activities outside the house if it is not too important. The goal is to encourage people to reduce social interactions and follow social distancing protocols. So that people continue with their daily lives while reducing non-essential physical interactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Basically, the most important goal is to save lives. In this app, users who have tested positive for COVID-19 can share their status anonymously with those they have recently had close contact with. In addition, the privacy of all users will be protected. So that the handling of COVID-19 becomes simple and there is no pressure at all because privacy is maintained.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Zero Case Period 2020-2021<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The initial case of COVID-19 was only discovered in Taiwan in March, to be exact, around March 18, 2020, with 23 cases. In just a few months Taiwan was able to stop the spread of COVID-19, as evidenced by the decline in cases to 0 cases in May 2020. During this Zero Case period, the Taiwanese government began to loosen regulations, such as the opening of schools and office employees entering as usual. It’s just that health protocols such as the obligation to wear masks when leaving the house, social distancing, and always washing hands are still enforced [10].<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Public compliance with health protocols will make Taiwan free of COVID-19 during the period from May 2020 to April 2021. Even though there are additional cases, there have never been more than 10 people and all of these cases are imported cases. Therefore, even though it is Zero Case, the Taiwanese Government is still implementing flight restrictions and 14-day quarantine for citizens who want to come to Taiwan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Case Spike in May 2021<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The spike in cases in May 2021 began with the cases of two positive pilots for COVID-19. The cases are suddenly high because it is not being track by government. Most cases even reached 723 people in a day on May 22, 2021, as shown in Figure 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Figure 1. The surge in COVID-19 cases in Taiwan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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With this spike in cases, the Taiwanese government immediately enacted regulations like the beginning of the pandemic. Plus the Taiwanese government began to impose an entry ban for people who had traveled to India. Except for citizens of Taiwan or citizens with Alien Resident Card (ARC). However, they must still be quarantined in a group quarantine facility and undergo a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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In addition, a level 3 lockdown is also carried out, and the use of tracking applications with QR codes in every store\/public place. With this rapid action, the addition of cases per day can be suppressed and eventually starts to sag. The last information updated on July 1, 2021, cases began to decline to 47 people in a day. Hopefully, the situation will get better and there will be no more cases.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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