Why China's response to the coronavirus could never be replicated here
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Ireland would probably be better off looking at Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong - smaller territories with more comparable systems - for models in containing the virus. Self-ruled Taiwan, with 23 million people, around one million of whom work in mainland China, has had just 45 cases of coronavirus so far.
The island is just 130 km off the coast of China, its bitter rival.
"(In Taiwan) there has been a similar degree of rigour and discipline but applied in a much less draconian manner," Jeremy Konyndyk, a senior policy fellow at the Centre for Global Development, told 'Science' magazine.
Taiwan got proactive. It began checking flights arriving from Wuhan in early December and cut off flights from China early on.
All over Taipei there are hand sanitisers and anyone entering schools must submit to a fever check. Facemask buying has been rationed to stop panic buying.
The island's Centres for Disease Control, set up after the Sars epidemic in 2003, have been notably transparent in public dealings. School holidays were extended after the Chinese New Year holiday but only by two weeks.
Taiwan relies heavily on tourists from the mainland, and tourism has dried up.
The government introduced a €1.8bn stimulus package to help companies affected.
