Taiwan models battling COVID-19By Joseph Tse-hei Lee 李榭熙The “Wuhan pneumonia” outbreak has become a pandemic, but many countries have yet to come to grips with the worsening severity of this medical crisis. The frequency of outbreaks — from SARS in 2003 to swine flu in 2009 and today’s COVID-19 — and their rapid rate of transmission owe much to globalization. Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) is a respected epidemiologist, while his successor, vice president-elect William Lai (賴清德), specializes in public health and rehabilitative medicine. The government has canceled public gatherings, implemented mandatory quarantines, and promoted the importance of personal hygiene through the media and public health education. At a time when many countries are still developing measures to cope with the pandemic, Taiwan has much to offer to the outside world.

Source: Taipei Times April 03, 2020 15:56 UTC