Coronavirus outbreak: Taiwan to ban entry of foreigners to curb the spread

Amid coronavirus outbreak, Taiwan’s Health Minister Chin Shih-Chung announced that the island will be banning the entry for most foreigners as part of its preventive measure. Chin further also urged Taiwanese not to travel abroad unless necessary. Furthermore, all people entering Taiwan will also be put into home quarantine for 14 days. 

Taiwan has been lauded by several health experts for the efforts to effectively contain the spread of coronavirus, however, it is now reporting daily rises in cases from people returning to the island from other countries, especially Europe. While speaking at a press conference, Chin said that the number of imported cases have ‘increased sharply’. 

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Currently, Taiwan has almost 100 confirmed coronavirus cases and the deadly virus has claimed one life on the island. In a bid to contain the spread of the virus, Taiwan, earlier this year also banned the export of face masks and has since boosted its weekly production to 11 million. Chin said that the government is now aiming to raise the number to 15 million in the coming days. 

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'Close relationship' with US

At the same press conference, Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said that the island will also step cooperation with the United States. Joseph said that the US will be providing Taiwan materials for 300,000 protective suits and, on the other hand, Taiwan will be exporting a weekly supply of 100,000 masks to the US when the island has enough supply for itself. Joseph said that this symbolises the ‘close relationship’ with US and it is also a joint effort to combat the disease. 

Meanwhile, at a conference in Geneva, WHO Director-General said that the best way to combat the unprecedented outbreak of the deadly virus for all countries is to ramp up their testing programs. Tedros said that the ‘simple message’ he has for all countries is ‘test, test, test’. He further added that the countries will remain unsuccessful to tackle the pandemic if they fail to test all suspected cases and remain ‘blindfolded’. 

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