Since 23rd March 2020, The UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has issued a lockdown on residents to prevent the spread of COVID-19. However, to discover new ways of combating the virus, we look to other countries with fewer cases to find out protocols they have in place. With around 220 recorded cases, Taiwan is highly recognised for its best practices in fighting the spread. The Made in Group spoke to Freddie Höglund, CEO of the European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan (ECCT), to identify these practices first hand, and get insight as to how businesses can best handle this.
The European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan exists to provide a platform for members to engage with advocacy towards the Taiwan Government and authorities. The ECCT represents European and British companies in Taiwan. Freddie Höglund, CEO of the Chamber said:
“We advocate for best international practices and standards, we predominantly use European standards but we use international ones as well. This applies to export standards and minimum residue levels etc. We provide the information to Taiwan authorities as to what is going on in the world.”
In Freddie’s role as CEO, he is responsible for overseeing the 30 committees, made up of a variety of industries, with the organisation, which can be found on the ECCT’s website.
SARS Epidemic 2003
Talking about how Taiwan is best dealing with the outbreak, Freddie mentioned the SARS epidemic in 2003 which affected the country to a high extent. Learning from previous experiences, Taiwan dealt with the outbreak as early as January 2020. He continued:
“Taiwan was at the forefront of the battle when it came to SARS in 2003. During that time, the country was badly affected by the outbreak. The medical sector was not ready to handle the crisis, and therefore had a huge impact on society at that time.
When COVID-19 became known outside of China, the Twainese authorities were one of the first to take action. This included stopping direct flights from China and Hong Kong.”
Temperature Checks
With previous experience from SARS, Taiwan airports have since introduced thermal scanners to carry out temperature checks on individuals coming into the country. On top of this, every individual is permitted to go through immigration at airports. Around 1 million people from Taiwan currently live in China for business and therefore those returning would be re-screened to take extra precautions. Freddie said:
“When the outbreak started, there was a massive influx of people coming in from China so Taiwan authorities were on top of their game in trying to control this in close detail with quarantining.”
“I think the reason we have been able to deal with the outbreak so well, so far, is because of the swift response and the lack of questioning by the general public because of the experience in 2003.”
Mask wearing
In terms of culture, the far east people tend to wear masks when they are feeling ill in general to contain the spread of any germs. Therefore face masks are not frowned upon in the society in general, and when the outbreak started residents naturally began to wear the masks. In a recent event held at the ECCT Dr Chen Yee-Chun Professor of Medicine at the National Taiwan University College of Medicine mentioned that there is no evidence on the usefulness of face masks worn by persons who are not ill.
However, regardless of this, those who do not wear masks in crowded places such as public transport tend to be frowned up. Freddie said:
“I think that this is another reason why people are more alert and aware to cooperate when it comes to trying to prevent the spread.”
14-day quarantine and the use of technology
In addition to this, Taiwan implemented the “14-day quarantine” early on in the outbreak if people had the virus, and if individuals had relatives who have it, the majority of people followed the Government's advice, however those who didn’t, would be issued a fine. In the most recent scenario, someone who had the virus left their home and was issued a fine worth £28,000. People are fined depending on how many hours they have left their home for.
In order to identify these people who are supposed to be in quarantine, technology is heavily used such as using mobile phones. However authorities only track those who are subject to staying at home. This is also due to the mass infrastructure of cameras in Taiwan and ID numbers.
Thermal Cameras
Another precaution the country has been seen to have in place are the number of thermal cameras when entering a building. Though Taiwan isn’t on lockdown with residents unable to go to work, other precautionary measures have been implemented such as the crucial use of hand sanitizer, masks and social distancing. This is something that the ECCT practices in order to do business as usual and hold crucial events.
Likewise to the UK, Taiwan authorities give daily updates to residents in terms of the case statistics in Taiwan. Freddie said:
“We really commend the authorities' response here in Taiwan. The public are kept up to date with everything going on”
Testing for COVID
In terms of the country’s regulations for testing people, this is actioned once someone notifies authorities that they have symptoms of COVID-19. If they do not describe symptoms of the virus, they are unlikely to be tested. Due to the fact the spread is well contained in Taiwan, there isn’t a massive demand to be tested. In the UK today there is around 9929 cases of COVID, with death rates averaging at 7 people per 1 million, whereas in Taiwan the death rate is 0.08 per 1 million people.
Self Contained Taxis and restrictions on travel
Since closing the border for individuals coming from China and Hong Kong, when individuals arrive at the airport they can not be collected by friend or family member. Instead they are transported back to the homes or quarantine hotel via a taxi which has an isolated pod within, combating the spread further. This is due to the fact that many cases were coming from abroad.
Since the start of the outbreak, schools were closed for around 4 weeks, but are now back up and running. Taiwan has restricted teachers and students going overseas until the end of the term, which has been extended until the 14th July. This is due to the fact many students and teachers are likely to travel in the middle of a semester.
Prevention and Business
In terms of what the country is doing with businesses to combat the spread, if someone has the virus within an office floor everyone goes into quarantine and the whole office floor is then sanitized.
As the outbreak began in China, this seems to have had a massive impact on the supply chain globally. Since 2003 the demand for goods from China has increased significantly and is now four times bigger. Within the ECCT, their aim is to support companies, the chamber isn’t getting many requests in terms of help with the supply chain. As a global epidemic, the chamber can only share best practice and offer advice to those who stress concern.
Within the ECCT, the company is moving towards holding virtual events and webinars, in order to reduce the level of interaction with others. Talking about how companies can try to combat the spread within a business format, Freddie said:
“Try to conduct business as usual, but do it under Government guidelines in terms of sanitation and the number of people etc. In order to panic and overreaction, follow the guidelines set by the CDC (Centre for Disease Control), this will allow us to function at some level of normality. This is what I have implemented here at the Chamber”
The country isn’t seeing massive pressure to go back to normality either, like countries such as the US who hope to be back at work after Easter. Instead, the general attitude is that Taiwan is doing everything they can and is waiting for the virus to pass, without concern of the time limit.