Policy Decisions and Use of Information Technology to Fight COVID-19, Taiwan.
Emerg Infect Dis
; 26(7): 1506-1512, 2020 Jul.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-645538
ABSTRACT
Because of its proximity to and frequent travelers to and from China, Taiwan faces complex challenges in preventing coronavirus disease (COVID-19). As soon as China reported the unidentified outbreak to the World Health Organization on December 31, 2019, Taiwan assembled a taskforce and began health checks onboard flights from Wuhan. Taiwan's rapid implementation of disease prevention measures helped detect and isolate the country's first COVID-19 case on January 20, 2020. Laboratories in Taiwan developed 4-hour test kits and isolated 2 strains of the coronavirus before February. Taiwan effectively delayed and contained community transmission by leveraging experience from the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak, prevalent public awareness, a robust public health network, support from healthcare industries, cross-departmental collaborations, and advanced information technology capacity. We analyze use of the National Health Insurance database and critical policy decisions made by Taiwan's government during the first 50 days of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Keywords
2019 novel coronavirus disease; COVID-19; SARS; SARS-CoV-2; Taiwan; communicable diseases; coronavirus; data sharing; electronic medical records; emerging infectious diseases; epidemic; health policy; national health insurance; outbreak; pneumonia; public health; quarantine; respiratory infections; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; universal health care; viruses; zoonoses
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pneumonia, Viral
/
Coronavirus Infections
/
Information Technology
/
Pandemics
/
Betacoronavirus
/
Health Policy
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
English
Journal:
Emerg Infect Dis
Journal subject:
Communicable Diseases
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
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