Taiwan’s First Major COVID-19 Outbreak
Taiwan has been extremely successful in combating the COVID-19 pandemic and was considered a world leader in defeating the COVID-19 virus. Prior to May 14th of 2021, Taiwan had less than 1,300 COVID-19 cases and only 12 COVID-19 related deaths, even after more than a year of COVID-19 exposure to the island. Taiwan had one of the lowest cases per capita number in the world and 90% of the cases on the island were from people arriving on the island with not a single local case for 253 days in a row. As a result, Taiwan started relaxing its quarantine duration and preventative procedures. However, this was a huge mistake.
On 5/15/2021, Taiwan started experiencing a huge amount of cases, a devastating amount of 390 cases and a 15% increase in the number of cases from the previous day. Over the next few weeks, Taiwan would get a number of cases in the triple digits every day, increasing the number of local cases by more than 90% since then.
This sudden and unexpected outbreak was ignited when two pilots from China Airlines breached quarantine and went to public areas while their infection status was unconfirmed. This was due to the Taiwanese government’s lax regulations on quarantine as Taiwan has not encountered the virus for a while. They were confirmed infected and put in quarantine later on but it was too late. The damage was done. The virus was spreading like wildfire around Taiwan’s cities and towns, and the government had no choice but to start enforcing rules. Many businesses and schools were closed and the government set restrictions on the maximum number of people possible in gatherings. Masks were also required if people were going outside and every time people entered a business, they were required to scan a QR code in order to effectively locate and predict the spread of the virus.
As the number of cases in Taiwan starts to decline once again, Taiwan must not relax its restrictions and must continue to enforce its strict rules for a while. Taiwan must not let negligence kill more innocent people again.