For two years, Taiwan's government has held to a ZeroCovid policy (while avoiding lockdowns); but its commitment to ZeroCovid is being challenged both by rising Covid case counts and by the political opposition.
April 6, 2022 - "Taiwan has managed to remain free of COVID-19 for most of the pandemic to date. The country has experienced only one major outbreak of COVID-19, which began in May 2021, peaked at over 500 cases a day in June 2021, and resulted in over 800 deaths. The outbreak of summer 2021 began after a year in which Taiwan was mostly COVID-free, some scares notwithstanding, due to quick action by authorities to close borders with China. A 14-day quarantine was mandated for new arrivals and a QR code system was set up, with individuals required to scan a QR code at stores, restaurants, and other establishments to assist in contact tracing. The outbreak was contained by later that summer. August 25, 2021 saw the first day with zero reported COVID-19 cases.
"The Taiwanese government’s approach to fighting COVID-19 was a zero-COVID approach that emphasized testing, tracking, and isolating. The Tsai administration’s handling of the pandemic allowed Taiwan to avoid any lockdowns, even during the peak of COVID-19 cases, with only 'soft lockdown' measures and individuals still allowed to go outside freely, so long as they wore medical masks. The containment of COVID-19 in 2021 was less dependent on vaccines, seeing as Taiwan initially struggled with vaccine shortages.... Taiwan also saw low rates of vaccination, due to domestic fears about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, as well as because members of the public did not see vaccination as necessary, in light of Taiwan’s success in mostly avoiding COVID-19.
"However, the Tsai administration currently faces the challenge of how to gradually loosen restrictions so as to reintegrate Taiwan into the world economy at a time in which other nations are opening up. China and Hong Kong are currently seeing outbreaks that gesture toward possible negative outcomes for Taiwan if it attempts to maintain its zero-COVID approach indefinitely. Apart from lockdowns in Shanghai and other major Chinese metropolitan centers, this has been dramatically observed in Hong Kong, which has seen thousands, even tens of thousands, of daily cases and the world’s highest death rate by proportion of the population from COVID-19....
"Now Taiwan is seeing its own case counts climb. For the four days of the Tomb Sweeping Festival – an occasion for families to travel and clean ancestral tombs – Taiwan has reported more than 100 COVID-19 cases a day. On April 5, 216 cases were reported. This was a dramatic uptick from a week prior on March 29, when 33 cases were reported, and even that was the highest number of cases since June 2021.... Many cases have unknown sources of infection....
"Although the Tsai administration has publicly maintained that it still adheres to a zero-COVID approach, it did not discourage the public from traveling over the Tomb Sweeping Festival.... The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) , which coordinates Taiwan’s COVID-19 response, ... did not seek to reduce traffic on highways and railways, as it did in the past during holidays. The CECC also stated that it expects cases to increase.... In its messaging, the CECC has stressed that of the 1,709 domestic COVID-19 cases reported from January 1 to April 3, only four had medium-to-heavy symptoms, with most cases instead reporting light symptoms or being asymptomatic....
"The future direction of COVID-19 policy will soon become a matter of political contention. [Opposition] Pan-blue mayors such as New Taipei mayor Hou You-yi and Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je have called on the Tsai administration to make clear whether it intends to continue to adhere to a zero-COVID approach or switch to 'co-existing' with COVID-19. This could prove a significant development, in that pan-Blue politicians themselves have expressed openness to transitioning to co-existing with COVID-19....
"During the outbreak last year, it was much more common for pan-Blue mayors such as Hou and Ko – both thought to hold aspirations for Taiwan’s 2024 presidential race – to attack the central government for failing to be stringent enough against COVID-19.... The new signaling from Hou and Ko, then, may be confirmation that the Taiwanese public is increasingly willing to contemplate the possibility of co-existence with COVID-19.
"Likewise, media reporting on the uptick in cases is notably muted compared to past outbreaks. It is possible that the central government may continue to publicly claim that it is still pursuing zero-COVID in order to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 as long as possible. But rather than the public rhetoric, it will be important to watch whether the Tsai administration’s policy moves are in the direction of management of the coronavirus."
Read more: https://thediplomat.com/2022/04/is-taiwan-inching-away-from-its-zero-covid-policy/
No comments:
Post a Comment