"The Diplomat" praises Taiwan for controlling the COVID-19 outbreak

The Diplomat, a premier international current-affairs magazine for the Asia-Pacific region, praised Taiwan for having the COVID-19 outbreak under control. In its article, it was discussed the many strategies Taiwan implemented in fighting the epidemic.

According to [The Diplomat], as COVID-19 began in 2020, Taiwan was among a group of fortunate countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, and Singapore, whose citizens went about business as usual as tight borders, strict quarantine rules, and excellent contract tracing kept the virus at bay.

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Current events magazine "The Diplomat" praised Taiwan for how it handles the epidemic. (Photo / Retrieved from The Diplomat)

• Taiwan doubled down on longstanding strategies of masking, quarantine measures, and contact tracing.

As early as April 2020, Taiwan had already instituted mask mandates on public transportation. The government extended the mask mandate to everybody on the island and required its citizens to wear a mask outside their homes.

• Taiwan extended its quarantine facilities for those entering the country from abroad to domestic COVID-19 patients.

Many local governments began providing options for anyone testing positive to quarantine in a government-provided hotel or facility. The provision of quarantine facilities significantly reduced the transmission of the virus within the family, thus reducing the number of cases in the community.

• Taiwanese government was willing to listen to critics and change its policies in fighting the pandemic.

Taipei City mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲)'s negligence in contact tracing led to cluster infections in markets. In response, the central government with Wang Bi-sheng as joint commander and deputy mayor Huang Shan-shan joined the in the fight against the epidemic.

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Taiwan received vaccine donations in return for its generous donation of masks earlier this year. (Photo / Retrieved from The Diplomat)

• Taiwan’s media played an understated role in fighting the pandemic

Taiwan’s free-wheeling media, which traces its origins to the democratization of the media landscape in the 1990s, competed to provide the latest information on fighting COVID-19 around the clock.

• Taiwan reaped the goodwill it sowed in the early days of pandemics.

Taiwan donated more than 51 million face masks to countries worldwide last year. Recipient countries, in return, have gifted Taiwan precious vaccines during this outbreak, which the country struggled to obtain due to geopolitical reasons. Japan has given Taiwan more than 3.3 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines, and the United States has delivered 2.5 million doses of Moderna vaccines to Taiwan in the last two months. Lithuania, Slovakia, and Czechia have also pledged tens of thousands of vaccines to Taiwan.