Focus Taiwan
Date: 04/19/2020
By: Yeh Su-ping and Emerson Lim

Taipei, April 19 (CNA) Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁), an epidemiologist by trade, feels social distancing will became a way of life amid the COVID-19 outbreak for at least another 18 months, the time it will take to develop a vaccine.

According to a transcript of Chen's interview with the Daily Telegraph8 posted on the Presidential Office's website Sunday, Chen believed mankind "won't get rid of this virus totally" because it is highly contagious with many mild or asymptomatic cases and can be transmitted through droplets and contaminated areas.

There is therefore a need to develop rapid diagnostics and anti-virals to treat the cases, with milder ones to be treated by private practitioners and severe ones to be treated in medical centers, he said.

"Maybe in one and a half years, we may have a vaccine… But before that, we definitely have to keep social distancing," he said.    [FULL  STORY]