According to The Central Epidemic Command Centre in Taiwan, the country is the “Envy of the world” when it comes to handling the spread of Covid-19. Taiwan, as of today, has hit 215 cases in total, with new cases coming from travellers returning from Britain, Ireland, Turkey and Indonesia. The UK has over 6,650 cases and 335 deaths, we look to Taiwan to learn their best practices in combating the spread.
Speaking to a resident of Taiwan, Casper Chan, is a Marketing Executive for Osense Technology - an AI business in Taiwan. Casper said:
“Indeed Taiwan has done a great job at preventing the outbreak of coronavirus, in my opinion, I'm not suitable for being a representative to give my personal opinions. However, The government has done a lot to limit the growing outbreak like the mask system 2.0”
Taiwan, particularly in the capital city of Taipei, were concerned about the outbreak of COVID-19 since as early as 31st December, when they already began putting measures in place to minimise the spread of the virus. In their most recent efforts, as of 12th March 2020, the country has issued a new online system for real-name mask-rationing.
Issued by the World health organisation, the masks are effective if you need to take care of someone with COVID-19 symptoms, are coughing or sneezing and are only effective if you wash your hands frequently and dispose of them properly.
In a bid to combat the spread as successfully as possible, Taiwan pushed local vendors who manufacture the masks to make more than usual and requested this back in early February. Local manufacturers would normally produce 1.9 million masks a day, but are now issuing around 3.2 million to 40 million.
To control any panic buying of the masks and to ensure everyone has the same accessibility to them, the “Real-name mask-rationing” system was put in place. The first wave of issuing the masks, saw residents of Taiwan purchase them depending on their ID numbers. Those with even numbers as the last digit of their ID number were allowed to purchase the masks on every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and those with odd numbers on every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Each resident is allowed to purchase two masks at a time with their National Health Insurance card (NHI). The term “Real-name” is used to ensure residents know they must use their real name to purchase the masks and are unable to make a new purchase within 7 days.
Real-name mask-rationing 2.0 will see masks issued through a lottery system if the demand becomes too high. By April, the country hopes to produce 13 million masks per day as well as increasing the production of N95 respirators.
Since 23rd March 2020, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has issued a lock-down on the country. This means residents should not leave their homes unless they are shopping for essentials such as food and medical supplies. To put stricter precautions in place, if residents are out of their homes without reason, the police are able to get involved. This was followed by the request to work from home if residents can. However, Casper, a Taiwan resident, said this is not yet prominent in Taiwan. He added:
“Here at Osense in Taiwan we are looking into preparing work at home but haven't started yet”.