♦ Updated daily ｜Taiwan’s Covid-19 Outbreak

Is Taiwan's recent COVID-19 surge an outbreak? This question is significantly connected to the nation’s new COVID policy. In just a few weeks, Taiwan’s COVID cases have risen to over 60,000 per day. Compared to the population of 23 million, the number has drawn global attention. 

Media outlets around the world have noted Taiwan’s skyrocketing local COVID-19 cases, with some people even spreading false rumors on Twitter of nonstop burning at crematoriums. 

Many of these observers, however, seem to be neglecting how the country has tactfully moved to the easing of many quarantine controls. Taiwan waited until over  80% of its population was vaccinated, (over 60% have received a booster) before evolving its local anti-COVID model and relaxing quarantine rules. They have spent six months understanding the Omicron variant and its fatality rate, relying on global information that this new variant would cause much less severe infection in general than prior variants.  

(Source: CommonWealth Magazine)

This COVID model echoes some of the top science-based explanations for developing antibody-producing cells that can provide long-term protection against future diseases.
 
Without any access to WHO information, Taiwan has made its mark by successfully containing COVID-19 spread, including that of the most lethal Delta variant. Mask rules, contact tracing, and location sharing have become part of Taiwanese daily life in the last two years. 

Despite the vaccine order cancellation drama, Taiwan aimed to be a zero COVID-19 country in 2020 and was actually successful in claiming “zero (local) cases” for many consecutive days. But it is obvious that this policy would not work unless the rest of the world was also moving towards the same goal. In this era of globalization, we know that ‘no one is safe unless everyone is safe.’  

While maintaining its own good healthcare, Taiwan provided essential support for many nations in these critical times, with its supply of masks, pharmaceutical supplies, and even rice, promoting the motto "Taiwan Can Help, and Taiwan is Helping!" Today, Taiwan is dealing with a lack of rapid test kits, with people sometimes queuing for hours in vain, a sight reminiscent of the initial scarcity of masks as well as the quick recovery of that situation afterward. 

It is too early to predict whether Omicron can really influence natural immunity or if the population is at risk. However, the government must be mindful that relaxing border controls might  introduce new variants into the population, since this virus has become infamous for its mutations being beyond scientific prediction. 

If this model works while managing to avoid mass fatalities, we could confidently say Taiwan made the right decision at the right time. 

It is said that the odd man stands out; Taiwan has been going against the grain without locking down the country for even a single day and not jeopardizing its economy during the Covid era. This odd man just may still be able to show how being odd can be the key to success. 
 

(This piece reflects the author's opinion, and does not represent the opinion of CommonWealth Magazine.)

 About the author:

Arpita Dutta is a legal consultant at ‘Louis International Patent Office’, ‘Louis & Charles's Attorneys at Law’ and ‘STARTBOARD Incubator’. Her background has been civil and corporate laws in India. In Taiwan, she has been providing legal support in seasoned industries for corporate and IP disputes and the investors for their intended ventures in India and Taiwan. She is a guest lecturer at the National Taipei University of Technology and Chang Gung University.

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