COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan

[7][8] The Journal of the American Medical Association says Taiwan engaged in 124 discrete action items to prevent the spread of the disease, including early screening of flights from Mainland China and the tracking of individual cases.

Starting on 19 March 2020, foreign nationals were barred from entering Taiwan with some exceptions such as those carrying out the remainder of business contracts and those holding valid Alien Resident Certificates, diplomatic credentials, or other official documentation and special permits.

[10][25] However, an outbreak among Taiwanese crew members of the state-owned China Airlines in late April 2021 led to a sharp surge in cases, mainly in the Greater Taipei area, from mid May.

[35] Among the first confirmed cases was a Taiwanese man in his 50s who was fined NT$300,000 for failure to report his symptoms and attempting to conceal his subsequent activities, leading to a potential contamination incident at a ballroom in Kaohsiung.

[52] The second death linked to coronavirus in Taiwan was announced on 20 March and involved a man in his 80s who had no recent travel history, but did have hypertension, diabetes and relied on kidney dialysis.

[105] On 22 September, a Kaohsiung-based manufacturer was accused of adding new production equipment without notifying or gaining approval from the mask rationing program, raising questions on their origin and quality.

Third, it asked all medical institutions and local governments to step up screening measures for symptoms of COVID-19 in patients, noting that a major goal was to prevent the healthcare system from facing the double burden of seasonal influenza combined with an outbreak of COVID-19, as seen in other countries.

[127] The cluster has prompted several cities, organizations, and event planners to cancel or postpone various celebrations for the upcoming Lunar New Year and Lantern Festival, and the Taiwan Railway Administration announced several measures to help curb potential spread during the high traffic volumes typically seen during the holidays, including partitions in food court areas and more infrared temperature sensors to bolster those already in place at station entrances.

[148] After 180 new domestic infections were reported on 15 May,[149] the alert level was raised to three in the four-tier system in the Taipei area, which entailed shutting cinemas and entertainment spots, limiting gatherings to five indoors and 10 outdoors, making it mandatory for people to wear masks at all times when outside,[150] and an encouragement by the government to work and study from home.

[156] On 5 and 6 June, the chip testing and packaging company King Yuan Electronics Co (KYEC) shut down its main plant in Miaoli County and resumed its operations afterwards with local staff at lower-than-normal production volumes.

[158] Local media raised concerns that the cluster of infections could exacerbate the chip shortage worldwide, which had led to Taiwan's semiconductor industry to operate at maximum capacity.

[172] Health and welfare minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said that an immediate suspension of contract tracing would apply to travelers who tested positive in Taiwan, either on arrival or during quarantine, in order to free up resources to monitor the growing number of domestic cases.

[173] He stressed that despite the spike, the number is low compared to other countries such as South Korea, and later added that Taiwan ordered an additional 700,000 courses of Pfizer's Paxlovid beyond the 20,000 that it had placed previously.

[174] On 31 December 2019, Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (CDC) implemented inspection measures for inbound flights from Wuhan, China in response to reports of an unidentified outbreak.

[178] By 5 January 2020, the Taiwan CDC began monitoring all individuals who had traveled to Wuhan within fourteen days and exhibited a fever or symptoms of upper respiratory tract infections.

[182] The CECC has coordinated government responses across areas including logistics for citizens on the Diamond Princess, disinfection of public spaces around schools, and providing briefings with Chen Shih-chung, the Minister of Health and Welfare.

[201][202] In early February 2020, Taiwan's "Central Epidemic Command Center" requested the mobilization of the Taiwanese Armed Forces in both containing the spread of the virus and in building up defenses against it.

[207][208] On 16 March, the Tsai Ing-wen presidential administration announced that Makalot Industrial and other Taiwanese companies would begin domestic mass production of protective gowns, ending a reliance on American imports from DuPont during the pandemic.

[214] As of 17 March, foreign nationals permitted in the country, namely, those who hold Alien Resident Certificates or who are on urgent diplomatic, business or other special missions, can rent a room in a public quarantine center.

[216] On 31 March, transportation and communications minister Lin Chia-lung announced that all passengers on trains and intercity buses were required to wear masks, as were people at highway rest stops.

[233] Effective 19 March, foreign nationals were barred from entering Taiwan, with some exceptions, such as those carrying out the term of a business contract, holding valid Alien Resident Certificates, diplomatic credentials, or other official documentation and special permits.

[235] On 8 July, the Ministry of Education announced that international students from eighteen countries, based on relative levels of COVID-19 infections, would be allowed to reenter Taiwan after their universities secured a permit on their behalf.

[236] On 22 July, the CECC announced it would further relax border control by allowing all international students in their final year of study at Taiwanese universities to return to complete their degrees.

[243][244]) In early February 2020, the Executive Yuan adopted the recommendations of professors Huang Li-min (黃立民) and Chang Shang-chwen from National Taiwan University Medical School and announced that healthy people do not need to wear masks in open spaces.

[321] In an opinion poll conducted by Taiwan's TVBS published on 26 March 2020, health minister Chen Shih-chung received an approval rating of 91%, much higher than any other Taiwanese politician, including Tsai Ing-wen.

[358] On 13 March 2020, the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs arranged for the Minister of Health, Chen Shih-chung, to have a meeting with envoys and representatives from various countries, and the epidemic prevention methods were affirmed.

[367] Later in April, Prague Mayor Zdeněk Hřib, a physician who interned at a hospital at Taipei as a student, criticized the Chinese government for "manipulating the pandemic": specifically, seizing a business opportunity to sell medical equipment to the Czech Republic instead of donating.

[394][395] Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Research Center hosted an interactive map which initially listed Taiwan under the category "country/region", along with Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau.

[398] Although Taiwan is excluded from the World Health Organization due to opposition from China, and thus has limited access to shared scientific information and data, the country's response has been lauded in international press.

[386] Success factors cited have included the fact that the country's vice president, Chen Chien-jen, is an epidemiologist who had obtained a doctoral degree at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health;[401] and the lessons learned from the SARS epidemic in 2003, which had hit Taiwan hard.