Important lessons on how to tackle an epidemic.

ZME Science
Date: March 6, 2020
By: Mihai Andrei

Taiwan is 81 miles off Mainland China. It is a highly urbanized state of 24 million people with an extremely high population density. It is also one of the first places where the new coronavirus epidemic manifested itself. All things considered, Taiwan was expected to have the highest number of cases outside China. Yet Taiwan successfully managed to avoid an uncontrolled outbreak and only has 44 confirmed cases.

The lessons from Taiwan, presented in a new case study, are instructive for other countries — both for this outbreak and for future ones.

Why didn’t Taiwan become a coronavirus cluster? They were prepared and acted quickly and transparently. Image credits: Remi Yuan.

In April 2003, the Taiwan Department of Health was notified of seven cases of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) infecting healthcare workers (HCWs) at a large municipal hospital in Taipei. By the end of the outbreak, Taiwan recorded 483 infections, with a fatality rate of 12%.

The Taiwan government looked at these events closely and learned its lesson. Less than one year after the SARS outbreak, a National Health Command Center (NHCC) was established. The NHCC is meant to serve as a disaster management center command point, coordinating and advising authorities at a regional and central level, so that in the case of a new outbreak, no time and resources are wasted.    [FULL  STORY]