Taiwan defeats the Coronavirus

How many new cases in Taiwan over the past five days? Zero.

Few governments around the world are likely to emerge from the pandemic with a stronger standing than before. Taiwan is one of them -- and that’s not good for China.

Taiwan was forced to contain the outbreak without official help from the World Health Organization and other international bodies, thanks to China’s longstanding push to isolate the democratically ruled island that it claims as its territory. For weeks, leaders in Taipei struggled to evacuate residents from the virus epicenter in Wuhan, as Beijing rejected basic conditions such as having Taiwanese medical personnel aboard the aircraft. [...]

Despite those hurdles, Taiwan has led the world in its fight against the virus, with only about 400 infections and six deaths for a population of 23 million. By comparison, New York state -- with slightly fewer people -- had almost 300,000 cases and more than 22,000 deaths.

Restaurants are open. The schools weren't shut down. Taiwan didn't obliterate its economy. Therefore, it's strange that so many passionate people don't use Taiwan as a model example of No Lockdown.

What Taiwan did:

• Two-week quarantine for recent travellers.
• Schools teach kids to wash their hands thoroughly.
• Banning the exports of masks, hand sanitizers, digital thermometers, etc.
• Mandatory masks for everyone! By late March, Taiwan was producing over 10 million masks a day.
• Personal distancing measures in public transit, schools, cafeterias, malls, etc. The virus simply doesn't get the chance to spread.

Also, it helps to have an intelligent, homogeneous population that follows the common sense rules.