On 6 March, Taiwan’s measures to combat COVID-19 were praised by The Telegraph in an article titled “Taiwan sets gold standard on epidemic response to keep infection rates low”. The paper lauded the Taiwan government’s early intervention, clear command structure and transparent communication with the public for helping control the spread of the virus, adding that other countries like the UK could learn from such measures. The Telegraph pointed out that before the new respiratory disease was on the world’s radar, Taiwanese officials began boarding flights to check the health of passengers from the Chinese city. The Taiwanese government then blocked flights from China, quarantined travellers from infected areas before other Asian countries as well as issued daily updates and warnings about locations visited by infected COVID-19 patients prior to their diagnosis.
Further measures included public buildings requiring people to disinfect their hands upon entrance as well as rationing an official stockpile of 44 million masks to ensure a steady flow to the public. The article also mentioned Taiwan Digital Minister Audrey Tang’s creation of an online tracing system that enables people to search for pharmacies that have face masks in stock. In addition, Taiwan integrated national health and immigration information to track individuals at high risk based on their recent travel to affected areas and monitor home quarantine, as well as established a hotline in every major city for people to report suspicious symptoms. The Telegraph also drew attention to Taiwan’s wrongful exclusion from the World Health Organization (WHO) and other international organisations due to China’s pressure.
