Institut Montaigne
Date: 20 March 2020
By: Mathieu Duchâtel
An immediate response, before the first positive test on the island, a strict quarantine policy, a nationalized mask economy, and precise digital tools for a case-by-case situation awareness: these are the ingredients of Taiwan’s response to the COVID-19 crisis, for the first paper of our series "Fighting the coronavirus: East Asian responses", which explores the toolbox of public policy options to contain and defeat the virus.
Key policies
- Responses 21 days BEFORE a first case is detected: as early as December 31 with increased inspection measures to screen passengers on inbound travel from Wuhan for early signs, with a Central Epidemic Command Center activated by January 20, under the centralized authority of Minister of Health and Welfare.
- Delay between first case and most strong measures in place: 2 to 11 days.
- Integration on January 27 of databases to ensure access to the travel history of suspected cases to the National Health Administration
- Extremely strict enforcement of quarantine rules: intrusive tracing during the 14-day incubation period, screening of contact history, fines for violators, allowing Taiwan to avoid confinement and major lockdowns
- Testing of individuals showing symptoms but no systematic testing of individuals quarantined
- Strong focus from Jan. 24 on surgical and N95 mask production and distribution: government measures to ramp up production, rationing and nationalization of distribution, early export ban, and a nation-wide digital system to show the availability of masks in real-time
- Entry bans gradually expanding from Hubei residents to all Chinese nationals in early February and to all foreigners in mid-March (with an exception for low-skill foreign labor)
- A rule-of-law approach based on the standard operations procedures detailed in the Communicable Diseases Control Act