Spain’s second largest newspaper, El Mundo, listed Taiwan as the top country in the world in pandemic prevention. That was in a special report highlighting the world’s top 5 countries that have contained the pandemic on the anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic on Monday.
The report listed Taiwan, New Zealand, Korea, Japan and Finland as the top 5 countries in the world in terms of virus prevention. It analyzed the strategies of these successful countries and interviewed Taiwan’s Health Minister Chen Shih-chung.
It highlighted how Taiwan took the pandemic seriously, responded swiftly and had preemptive preparedness. Minister Chen shared Taiwan’s three main strategies: strict management of border risks, use of high technology and big data to fight the pandemic and strengthening the medical system. The report also said that other countries could learn from Taiwan’s rapid mobilization, decisiveness, rational allocation of resources and transparent information system. Chen told the newspaper by email that Taiwan’s experience in fighting Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003 helped it respond quickly to the outbreak.
Hen said that Taiwan’s mid-term goal is to establish immunity in 65% of the population. Chen added that Taiwan has, so far, signed the procurement of nearly 20 million doses of vaccine. If the vaccine roll out goes smoothly, at least 15 million people will receive a dose of vaccine by the end of February next year.