How Taiwan held off Covid-19, until it didn't

Another pandemic will come. Here’s what we can learn from Taiwan’s efforts to fight this one.
Subscribe and turn on notifications (🔔) so you don't miss any videos: goo.gl/0bsAjO
In December 2019, Taiwan‘s government learned that at least seven atypical pneumonia cases had been reported in Wuhan, China. Because of Taiwan’s proximity to China and the number of flights back and forth, it was expected to have the second-highest number of Covid-19 cases worldwide.
Instead, Taiwan has had one of the lowest Covid-19 death rates in the world. Thanks in part to a sophisticated digitized health care system and a mandatory two-week quarantine for all travelers, life in Taiwan went on with relative normalcy. But then, in May 2021, a new wave of cases complicated the country’s success.
So how did Taiwan, the ninth-most densely populated nation in the world, avoid a more severe spread of a highly contagious virus for so long? And what lessons can be learned from their response to the outbreak?
Correction: We omitted a credit to our Taipei-based producer, Clarissa Wei.
This video was made possible by a grant from the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund as part of our Pandemic Playbook series: www.vox.com/22403980/the-pand...
Subscribe to our channel! goo.gl/0bsAjO
Vox.com is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Check out www.vox.com.
Watch our full video catalog: goo.gl/IZONyE
Follow Vox on Facebook: goo.gl/U2g06o
Or Twitter: goo.gl/XFrZ5H

[@JustRandomPerson]

“Highest surge” in Taiwan is lower than “now New York returned to normal due to vaccines” .

[@Spenceycat123]

Nice profile picture

[@tristanlau1213]

All thanks to the former guy who said COVID is "just a flu"

[@xmvziron]

@@Spenceycat123 Most epic crossover ever

[@anishadamane4179]

@@tristanlau1213 New York is under Cuomo not the former guy, he didn't cause the nursing home mess

[@tristanlau1213]

@@anishadamane4179 Cuomo should also be blamed for that but the former guy denied the existence of the pandemic so he and his mates in GOP can sell off their stock sharing before everything goes down in the worst way possible.

[@a9302c]

Taiwan, a densely populated island of 23 million, brought the number of cases from 600 a day down to 20 a day in 8 weeks without any hard lockdown. Quite an achievement by any standards.

[@heavenbright2342]

Being better than the US doesn't make you "good."

[@wilmereriksson4177]

@@heavenbright2342 better than most countries though

[@mikoikho]

@@heavenbright2342 Why wasn’t this “good” then?

[@chihchang1139]

that's what a world leading national health infrastructure looks like

[@Stephensouraski]

They had a whole island lockdown, no one was getting in, no one was getting out. That's the reason, islanders did so well, i.e. Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Mauritius, Iceland. These were the counties that did best and guess what, they are all islands.

[@ez45]

It is completely impossible to orchestrate such a rigid system in the West where everybody is like "this is an imposition on *my* freedom"

[@indiancowpissdrinker7151]

hi deer

[@wiekeboiten6742]

in addition Taiwan has the adventage of being an island, so everyone either comes in by plane or ship, which is easily trackable

[@SystemBot]

and everyone is healthy until they're sick.

[@palabok7764]

It's even funnier when you look at the Democracy Index and see that Taiwan is freer and more democratic than the proverbial Western democracies of the US, France, and the UK.

[@JayPatel-ug1nh]

@Le Shabin You lack understanding, it's attitude like yours is what partially or in some cases completely responsible for spread of COVID

[@ariessamonterde9651]

I don’t know what you mean by “until it didn’t” because clearly they are still on top in managing covid-19 compared to other countries.

[@TheWillyba]

you don't see that massive spike in may that we got hit with?

[@wingchan7076]

@@TheWillyba I think what she meant was, it's a peak Nonetheless, but that peak is still a very, very small one compared to most other countries on Earth.

[@TheWillyba]

@@wingchan7076 yea i understand, but you cant make that comparison. you need to look at the overall trend and population % if US had a spike like that it would be from tens of thousands of people to tens of millions. keep in mind though i live in taipei, and we're really doing a decent job considering the population density.

[@thelegendformula6695]

This is considered a fail of a slip up when you have extremely high standards :) this just shows how well the government did before

[@josephlin402]

Compared lol… how? Other nations have much lower cost to test COVID and Taiwan cost USD100. How😂 are you joking about the comparison ?

[@neonbunnies9596]

0:54 "Ed has dual citizenship in Taiwan and Canada, but lives in New York" *Mr. Worldwide*

[@fortyinch]

I can relate. Philippines and US but lives in Taiwan.

[@mimovil8730]

@@fortyinch That hits close to home. I have a friend who is North Korean but studied in Switzerland and met with Donald Trump in Singapore not long ago. He goes by many names though.

[@SabrinaLovesPuffins]

@@mimovil8730 Interesting. I have a similar friend, only his brother died in Malaysia in a freak accident. Poor lad.

[@ackack3706]

interestingly, China recognize Taiwan's citizens as Chinese nationals and they can get a MTP which is equivalent to the Chinese national ID

[@garrettallen7427]

@@ackack3706 they can also get arrested and detained there…

[@dutchbutter774]

I went on an exchange to Taiwan in Februari 2020. Back then people sometimes mocked me for going closer to the source of covid. Boy were they wrong. I won the lottery and was amongst the privileged few students worldwide who could finish an unforgettable exchange. Stay strong Taiwan, wish you all the best from the Netherlands! 💪🇹🇼

[@jerrymiemarcus]

Goed gedaan 💪🏽als een van de weinigen ter wereld een normaal studentenleven kunnen hebben

[@liudwan44]

Hope everything goes well to the Niederlands as well!

[@decayf2431]

Friends of mine also went to Taiwan for exchange on the exact time of you but only for 6 months . I was worried but all the time when she was calling me about her condition there, it's always be good, no worried, everything was ok. Thank god

[@leonwlh]

I was in Taiwan with my family for a trip at the same time with you knowing that Covid-19 is there. I'm sure that you and I was surprised how vigilant they are even the outbreak at the moment was considered "small" compared to now.

[@ShawnJonesHellion]

privlideged enough to be subpar intelligence an think tv is real. nonproblem tho. subpar intelligence is actually higher than average intelligence a few decades ago 🤷

[@ptrwq]

This video needs to be updated. As of 8/10 there are only three new cases. They were able to control it in just a couple of months without going full lockdown.

[@chickoutyo]

But it's still a fact that we had a outbreak

[@pure5152]

yep, and meanwhile cases and deaths in america are surging upwards... the video makes for great story, but all it is is kinda spin

[@Boby9333]

Taiwan: Only restricted risky people Rest of the world: Rights and liberty? What are those?

[@bryancurdi451]

At around the end of the video he said that he cases were controlled again This video was just explaining how they had it under control

[@zyansheep]

@@Boby9333 its more complicated then that. Some countries don't have the resources, political will, or coordination to do any of that.

[@xanderrednaxx]

Not like "untill we didn't" it was really still in control. The highest we got was 700 cases a day and it dropped after that. Now we're getting numbers below 10

[@NitinGupta-qm6hj]

Exactly the seems outrageous!

[@xanderrednaxx]

@@NitinGupta-qm6hj ik but the video really does make us Taiwan proud

[@Vespiral]

You guys are lucky. Us Malaysians our government and high ranks only care about money so that's why the highest we got in a day was 24K Prime minister is corrupt. He hides cases from us. Pretend we get 30K cases per day, he only reports 8K

[@xanderrednaxx]

@@Vespiral man im sorry :/ i hope yalls doing beter now :D

[@daddylacus]

@@xanderrednaxx and then there is the USA, where we got up to 300k cases in a day... can I come live in Taiwan?

[@john.doe_0007]

Even during their worst times with a population of 24 million they were able to contain the daily cases under 600, i mean that's really terrific.

[@sarahj8995]

Exactly! as a Canadian, and given that our population is not far off from Taiwan’s and we have universal healthcare set in place, it’s a real shame where we messed up and how many lives were lost as a result.

[@luddity]

@@sarahj8995 Severe mismanagemnet of the carehomes was to blame for most of it.

[@jerry7532]

@@sarahj8995 As a Taiwanese, we are just used to mask up and thankfully we have enough of them. But at the same time we were unable to get enough vaccines, that's the mistake we made.

[@Jibril_Abdulkadir]

@@luddity not just that we didn’t have quarantine hotels we allowed variants to come in we opened to early when variants where spreading so much mismanagement

[@Jibril_Abdulkadir]

@@sarahj8995 the worst mismanagement of healthcare I have ever heard of quarantine wasn’t being enforced people didn’t want to wear masks while in tiwan everyone wear masks and listened to science

[@ruisen2000]

Everyone in Taiwan: man our healthcare system is seriously broken The world: Taiwan has the best healthcare system in the world

[@_Atzin]

People become expectant of a certain quality as a baseline after getting used to it, not necessarily bad as it makes those systems stay under pressure to improve.

[@nerveinz6453]

Yep, for example people on USA felt like they are the most opressed people. When in fact most of them know nothing of how bad things can go

[@HarshPatel-fe9hj]

@@Dan-zt7uj Bro based on the facts, even after paying a high price the maternal mortality in the USA is much higher than in most developed countries, which give free medical care. And I am not saying the USA doesn't have the best medical technology, but it is possible to provide the best quality medical care at a low price tag or for free.

[@spiritpenguin3603]

Lee Roy Jones don’t forget his context: world overpopulation.

[@johnwig285]

@@nerveinz6453 i agree, ppl in the US shouldn't feel that they are the most oppressed. Instead, the US oppressed the most ppl in other countries. From killing more than 100 thousand innocent Japanese civillians during the World War via 2 atomic bombs, to invading & terrorising Iraq over a fictional weapon of mass destruction leading to 2 decades of ongoing conflict

[@bakedpotato9120]

The way they strategize things, it's so systematic. But how they execute them, much more IMPRESSIVE. So much respect!

[@martuldolig6063]

Because the citizen in taiwan knows what is the prize of freedom and the limit of it. I am from the philippines and worked there for 12yrs, the difference of how we over exert our freedom here and how most people like to break the rules that the government is making is unbelievable. 9yr old children will break the curfew hrs and the parents just laugh at it even though they are caught by the police. Thats how embarrassing we are here.

[@vinnieg6161]

I would be scared in the government knew every thing about me and tracked my phone

[@jacobfredman9442]

@@martuldolig6063 yes freedome =/= be able to do anything There is always a limit even freedom has it

[@midnightteapot5633]

Taiwan is one of the nicest and most pleasant places I have ever been . Charming and polite people . salute !!

[@leonchen2770]

ever been to LoL server?

[@northguard157]

@@leonchen2770 lol

[@mongjalee1305]

As a Taiwanese. Thank you.

[@sashimiakali]

@@leonchen2770 lol? A game??

[@tzaphkiel003]

@@sashimiakali league of legends yes a game

[@specialtasker8445]

Taiwan considers 500 daily cases as a “surge in cases” and here in India we be reporting 40k cases daily still and we opening up and acting like everything is back to normal . I do envy the Taiwanese ,a job well done

[@marosesanchez4770]

yea but taiwan has much lower population as compared to india

[@AmanRaj-el1ts]

Compare the data in percentage not in numbers

[@ksiwinski]

@@AmanRaj-el1ts India has around 50x taiwans population but as of now has around 400x taiwans local cases

[@cameosix7077]

@@marosesanchez4770 Taiwan has one case per 39,000 people while India had 1 case per 3,250 people during the second wave which translates to 0.02 cases per 1000 in Taiwan, while it translates to 0.3 cases per 1000 in India

[@chillax9184]

The thing is the number of cases is still high. It's just looks lower in percentage. Hospitals can not afford to cater those lets say 20k cases a day. That's why most of them just buy oxygen tank and do quarantine/medication at home

[@loganiushere]

"biggest outbreak ever" 500 cases Me: *screams in US*

[@OlJackBurton]

The actual outbreak was much closer to 20,000 infections a day, which isn't insignificant at all. Adjusted for population, it would be equivalent to about 275,000 infections a day in the US, which was about how many the US was getting in the summer of 2020 (70,000-80,000 confirmed cases a day, but likely 3 or 4 times as many actual infections due to testing limitations)...

[@itsourlife]

What should I be doing then?

[@SWIFTIESCHN]

You don’t look at how different the population?

[@saahildayal2416]

Me: Cries in India

[@CloverDoesJunkStopMotion]

@@saahildayal2416 I hope your country makes it threw the deficit times! Just pray to god that it gets better.

[@localnyraccoon]

Taiwan has a great system for keeping covid out, if only the whole world had a similar system.

[@jellymusicallies4592]

actually no lol, being an island is super easy, just control who comes in and insolate, yet they still fked up

[@nerd2544]

@@jellymusicallies4592 0.50 RMB has been deposited in your account, good job comrade!

[@alexanderphilip1809]

Its requires a collective cultural consensus. Most western societies are driven by idealistic idiocy.

[@alexanderphilip1809]

@@jellymusicallies4592 how's cuba doing by the way ?

[@Ograws]

They already had a plan in place even before the COVID-19 pandemic since they were hit by the SARS outbreak in 2003. Also they're an island nation that doesn't share a land border with any other country. They were also one of the few countries at the start of the pandemic that did that mandatory two week quarantine.

[@chinwejon-nwakalo2937]

Interesting how there isn’t a focus on “why” the outbreak happened. Sure, lack of vaccines and loosening restrictions take part. However, I believe the rest of the world not having as efficient and enforced quarantine system as Taiwan is the main issue. They have consistently had almost 0 new daily cases for over a year. Covid doesn’t appear from thin air so I would point to international travel being the culprit. With mutations in the virus (due to continued spread elsewhere allowing covid to become familiar an adjust), I’m sure Taiwan’s outbreak was from a more infectious variant of covid. Vaccine urgency would not be needed if covid was spreading less.

[@MissJ_musiclife]

News doesn't really mention the "why" because it's kinda embarrassing... basically one of the hotels and some airline crew members didn't follow the quarantine policies and pass the virus to hotel employees. And then the whole thing just got outta control.

[@natef95]

I live here in Taiwan and the compliance of people is amazing. The government never started an official lockdown, instead they limited indoor and outdoors gatherings and the vast majority of people have gone along with it. Because of people's civic duty cases went from 500ish a day end of May and early June to now only about 30 a day the last few days. What this video fails to mention is that covid got past the quarantine firewall because a pilot returned to Taiwan infected. At that time pilots and airline staff were considered fairly low risk as they aren't supposed to leave the airports in the country they travel to so they were only required to quarantine for 3-5 days. Pilot didn't have symptoms until almost 2 weeks after he returned to Taiwan when he had already been out of quarantine. They've changed the rules now thank goodness.

[@josephm.6453]

The whole rebel attitude and fk the government and its orders is an American thing. In Asia you don't get that. This time it has proven beneficial for the public to limit their freedom. It's a double edged sword nonetheless.

[@cloroxbleach8137]

@@josephm.6453 its because most americans want to act completely independant and refuse to listen to others because they think they know best, rather than listening to people who actually understand what is going on, such as the cdc who literally has the job of dealing with health issues and diseases

[@OneDerscoreOneder]

@@cloroxbleach8137 I think it’s a largely republican thing. Independence is a core value of the right (to a fault).

[@alr6111]

Pilots never leave the airport to sleep at their hotel?

[@starry_lis]

@@josephm.6453 you forgot about Poland

[@KanishkaWijesekara]

"Mistakes are going to happen, the trick, is to learn from them"

[@EDPistons]

They're government is lying. I don't understand why they have to hide it from their citizens. 27 new cases today and 17 new deaths. How is that possible? Taiwan has at least thousands of new cases today and they know it, but for some reason they're afraid to disclose it.

[@DyslexicMitochondria]

Still the way they initially handled the pandemic is commendable

[@epicstuff7522]

@@DyslexicMitochondria Hey bro I watch ur videos. Love your channeI

[@leonidaslazos6828]

@@EDPistons how is that not possible? You can get 0 new cases and 10 deaths due to the people who have gotten covid beforehand

[@muktapandey2583]

Same on India

[@cindybogart6062]

I really like the way they handled this in the beginning. There’s no doubt in my mind they will get it under control again in time. Great story. Thanks. Unfortunately, some countries citizens will never accept the restrictions that are necessary…. They are to selfish.✨

[@lobstertantrum9511]

100% agree. And they always find excuses to support their selfishness. I always wonder why those people are in denial all the time.

[@redpillsatori3020]

@@lobstertantrum9511 ..they're in denial and pushback because they're simply written off as "selfish". Once it gets political the gloves come off

[@lobstertantrum9511]

@@redpillsatori3020 How is it political if airlines cuts costs due to reduced revenue and reduced passenger. All countries affected follow the same procedure. Only media coverage differs.

[@JasonRennie]

"The trick is to learn from them..." Too bad many people in my country (US) don't believe in that sort of thing :-\

[@gooseymousse]

“They were best friends... until they weren’t.”

[@Ihyabond009]

Friendship ended with Mudasir Now Salman is my best Friend

[@sixunity1171]

“He wasnt a murdered… until he was”

[@runi5413]

Taiwan was proudy Taiwan give attitude Taiwan will no compromise FRIENDSHIP ENDED!

[@ranggakd]

And they're a roommate

[@pawaratharva6371]

@@sixunity1171 he was art student, until he wasn't.

[@gabrielgomez-mx9cd]

This is like in Post apocalyptic movies where the last safezone suddenly stops sending out daily radio transmissions to the outposts.

[@absurd7292]

yeah😥😥😥😥

[@meghnamittal4114]

Now Australia is also joining the list.

[@midgetman4206]

Well looks like the area is now in the clear and is back to strength

[@CHChen-iu9vk]

Or like playing plague inc. and you finally break into Greenland😂

[@user-urwedfvftgfr228]

苔芭子只能學習那300名猝死的阿斯利康接種者

[@walterzamalis4846]

“What can we Americans learn from it?” You Americans _have_ learnt from it, you just choose to ignore.

[@Ywthg5w6gwvyw]

Yup

[@lerandomguy2109]

average US citizen "freedom" is going out without mask and not taking vaccine

[@tylermoseley935]

Of course we ignore it. Taiwan could only do this because they have a universal healthcare system. Also, this would be hard to organize on such a large scale, especially with undocumented immigrants, who make up 10 million in our 330 million people. States could organize a system like this, but there would be no way to track border crossings. This technique would only be possible in one state: Hawaii. Hawaii is an island with a relatively low population, but with very dense cities. If this system was organized in Hawaii, it would protect tourists, except they would have to go through a whole quarantine period.

[@pankaeyk]

“This put Taiwan on par with wealthy countries around the world. Well, other than the US” Why is this funny

[@Rakushi_Snea]

Because it's true 🤣

[@bigsmall246]

Because all wealthy countries around the world are better than the US in terms of healthcare

[@juanzaldivar8425]

@@bigsmall246 sadly true

[@bigsmall246]

@@thenamesjohny1490 watch the video lol

[@eduardcruceru9004]

@@thenamesjohny1490 what does health care *not* have to do with an illness?

[@Dark-ki7lf]

Their 'highest surge' was still just around 500 cases. Lol. Edit: omg, never got so many replies. Can't read through them, sry.

[@fool7491]

That is nearly 600 deaths.

[@pikachu5647]

@@fool7491 as an Indian i would say you're still doing great. 👍

[@guybeauregard]

Down to 27 new cases today, 15 of which were detected in quarantine, so today there were 12 cases in the community. Taiwan is not out of the woods yet but the numbers are headed in the right direction

[@kaavi1391]

@@fool7491 600 cases not deaths

[@indiastandswithisrael2018]

@@pikachu5647 Yeah, India is worse lol

[@thomasdean6680]

It's also important to note that Taiwan's surge is still significantly lower than the rest of the world. At its peak, Taiwan had 1.6 new cases per 100K. Most of Europe was never that low. I've also ranked countries on their response for several months now. Taiwan has consistently ranked 1st place. After the spike it's dropped to 8th, still significantly higher than other success stories like Thailand, New Zealand, Australia and Uruguay.

[@R_U_DEAD_YET]

curious as to what makes it better than countries like new zealand who's still living completely open?

[@GeorgeD_]

Which countries would you say make up 1-7?

[@thomasdean6680]

@@GeorgeD_ Rwanda, South Korea, Mauritius, Burundi, Singapore, Vietnam, Macau

[@thomasdean6680]

@@R_U_DEAD_YET New Zealand has a much lower population density than Taiwan, so the virus is easier to control there.

[@GeorgeD_]

@@thomasdean6680 Surprised to see SK placed above Taiwan, considering their 7-day average is twice as high as Taiwan's ever was. I'd be interested to hear more about your methodology if you don't mind.

[@zulfiqarkhan8046]

"This put Taiwan on par with wealthy countries in the world. Well, other than the US." LOOOL 2:40

[@rasseodestiny8819]

Uuh, wuts so lol about that?

[@TrippyTimesTwo]

@@rasseodestiny8819 Probably the fact that the US is supposed to be a superpower but is barely able to function at a 2nd world level.

[@rasseodestiny8819]

@@TrippyTimesTwo Aaah, lol. Well that's not true because back in the day Usa was without a doubt a highly developed and a civilized country second to non. It did function well nontheless though questionably. Japan came close. But I should say there is a high standard of living in the nordic countries especially in Sweden and Norway back in the day and till to this day. Nowadays however Usa is becoming a joke of the century so yeah. Usa has lost it's golden age.

[@Maroon33]

@@TrippyTimesTwo it has the money, but Republicans are just too corrupt

[@EnthalpyAndEntropy]

@@Maroon33 it's not just republicans at fault. Democrats are equally to blame. If any of their schemes were even remotely reasonable it wouldn't be a problem. They want to eat their cake and have it too. World doesn't work like that. Point to any country doing stuff right and I'll show you a country not letting tens of millions of poor flood in from Latin America, poor who contribute little but take at or above par.

[@mefford67]

*I’m impressed by their swift and intelligent response to Covid-19. Kudos!* 👏🏻👏🏻

[@adam-farooq]

I was one of those people that quarantined there, It's exactly how it is described in this video. I love Taiwan and just wanted to thank Vox for highlighting how well they handled the pandemic.

[@viewerssejati8940]

You got vaccine from sinovac?

[@noopyx3414]

@@viewerssejati8940 Nop, they got vaccine from FREEDOM!

[@jjkc2660]

@@viewerssejati8940 correction, they don’t have sinovac in taiwan, it’s prohibited

[@y21rico83]

@@viewerssejati8940 any vaccine that comes from china is prohibited in taiwan.

[@seanshen8325]

And btw remember Americans don't wanna those restrictions so they have so many cases and deaths.

[@hamalmus]

Mistakes happened, but with that integrated system they'll recover very soon

[@yuckitsjj]

facts

[@iamyoda7917]

Politics above ALL. Total failure in vaccine management. Those mistakes will never be forgotten or forgiven.

[@AC-to2tx]

They already have. They are on track to flattening the curve.

[@Student0Toucher]

With with the vaccines USA is donating

[@Waaz732]

@@Student0Toucher are you sure the USA donated vaccines to taiwan, or did taiwan purchase those vaccines? just asking

[@nerdyguy5287]

I'm sorry, I almost didn't hear the reason why Taiwan's covid cases are increasing. Is it because the screening procedures become loose? So, some people can enter the country without 14 days Self quarantine

[@relatively_random4903]

Exactly my thought. The video spends a lot of time basically just saying: it wasn't their first rodeo, they had strict quarantine and everyone wears masks. But it never really explains what went wrong, at least not clearly.

[@CWL3417]

Taiwan relaxed the quarantine requirements for non-vaccinated pilots and other crew members from 5 days to 3. Two pilots later tested positive after quarantine, they had gone to bars and restaurants before being confirmed as having the virus. That’s how the outbreak started.

[@glumraidh]

The outbreak started primarily due to the 3+11 quarantine rule for aircrews - 3 days at a quarantine hotel which still had regular guests + 11 days of self-observation thereafter (many socialized without restrictions). However, it got worse because there wasn't any foresight or plans made for a possible outbreak. Testing centers and processes were slow with lots of paperwork and reporting lines, no mass testing or compulsory testing for hot spots, no improvements in healthcare facilities, no specialized isolation or quarantine centers, many still work onsite, shops are still opened, no one wanted to get vaccinated, vaccination drives were lacking and slow. There's no "lockdown". Most foreigners could still enter with a visa e.g., student visa, employment visa, or seeking employment visa; only tourists aren't allowed. I'd say Taiwan was largely lucky because 90% of the population wear masks all the time regardless of COVID. 😛

[@Mdobricster]

They were doing ok but then someone fixed it

[@enjayflave]

A bunch of pilots didn’t follow procedures and led to an outbreak in recent months

[@Yatsua]

The peak of new cases in Taïwan is my country's lowest, when everyone was in quarantine for 3+ months straight...

[@putra_maliki]

i live in Taiwan and i can tell you we are not really had serious outbrake in all the city, just 2 city Taipei and Kaoushiung, and today we actually can go outside again to eat, go to gym, had small party, go to cinema, and i don't really think it was so bad, city i live even i not see any much different before and after outbreak...

[@gauravrangnekar]

"Ed has dual citizenship in Taiwan and Canada, but he lives in New York." I don't know why but it made me laugh a little.

[@smoche]

_Mr. worldwide_ 😎 🌎

[@guybeauregard]

It sounds like Canada to me!

[@SamiDrif]

You forgot “like me” part, meanwhile I’m stuck in Mauritania and I can’t enter to my home country Algeria and it’s been 2 years 😂, it feels like we’re living in two separate worlds

[@static4939]

The way she said “but he lives in New York”

[@Justin-qd4tm]

It sounds like he have better choices, and chose the worse one, because it uses “but”

[@richxxya4238]

Moral of the story: Don’t let your guard down.

[@wwbaker3]

Ever? Even after mass vaccination?

[@variedrun3743]

yes

[@yeetusmymeatus4008]

I don’t care about COVID anymore. If anything, it’s a serious warning for the overall health of humanity. We are overweight, riddled with health problems. If we took our health more seriously, we wouldn’t be dying in the millions from COVID.

[@miscbits6399]

Look at San Francisco in the 1918 pandemic. There's your first lesson

[@IM2awsme]

Moral of the story: the CCP and WHO are liers that crippled the world through corruption and incompetence.

[@derekhayter4879]

Change the video title please. We've contained COVID-19 again. 0 cases for the past months or so. Everything is opened.

[@enzofire5341]

Compared with another countries，Taiwan had done a really great job to prevent Covid 19 from spreading.God bless Taiwanese.

[@andrewlyon9292]

I live in Taipei. The government did such a great job for so long, it was really amazing to live life normally while the world stopped. We still never had a day over 1,000 cases, and today we only had 32. The system is working again.

[@rcdlie2153]

Badass system should i say, very efficient and effective. Kudos to those guys.

[@ntr10me]

Stay safe.

[@ScotH22]

It’s 28 today

[@rcdlie2153]

Its 30k today in my country. So terrified.

[@nickchiang0]

Highest rate of deaths in the world

[@Stardust_4]

Taiwan seems to have done everything right when all the "rich" countries thought they're Invincible. Truly sad how politics clash with science

[@lehoang3532]

Taiwan (China) is also rich. At least richer than the APAC (Asia - Pacific) region norm.

[@gauraavthakurr]

@@lehoang3532 Taiwan and China are different

[@Malcadon]

@@lehoang3532 Ohhh boy! Thems are fightin' words!

[@unserkatzenland8884]

@@gauraavthakurr Republic of China? Wheres the difference?

[@tommyhsu2779]

@@unserkatzenland8884 its the "People" that makes the difference

[@mr1234567898766]

Actually, Taiwan only allow crew member of airline shorten the quarantine period, from 14 days to 3 days. BTW, Taiwan official know the china's outbreak from PTT, basically Taiwan's Reddit.

[@theyredistortingyourrhythm]

Where's covid20,21?

[@1977Futre]

And the pilots started going to the pubs and brothels which didn't help.

[@user-fe5vb4oz3o]

The government officials read the article about a taiwanese guy living in wuhan on one of the sleepless night.

[@1977Futre]

Yeh down to 17 yesterday. We slipped up. People blamed ONE or two incidents. But in reality it was bound to happen. We got slack and the virus got worse. Pilot quarantine needlessly reduced. There were other factors involved. A lot of people went to a brothel in Wanhua and this is where it gets tricky............contact tracing won't work if the question is - Ok, who was at a tea house messing around with prostitutes behind their wife's back on May 5th? ....Anyone? ...............Anyway, as the vid says, learn from mistakes! Onwards and upwards!

[@lizbennet90]

Haha. True. They slipped up but now get back again, stronger than ever. 14 new cases yesterday

[@had0j]

now its mostly just +0

[@user-nw4zz5vw3s]

As a Taiwanese, I appreciate that people around the globe admire our success but I do think we slacked off. Even though 500 cases a day may seem not severe to people from other countries, it is overwhelmingly dangerous for us due to the dense population. Now we can only rely on our government’s policies, vaccinations and our own self-discipline. May the whole world overcome COVID as soon as possible.💪

[@leigh7507]

Its happening in Vietnam now too. Illegal migrants from mainland china bought it in

[@maliksmith9003]

You really have to understand how ahead of the curve you guys are just by caring. There are densely populated places across the globe looking for every excuse NOT to take the pandemic seriously.

[@OlJackBurton]

500 cases a day is a severe undercount. With an average of double digit deaths every day, the actual number of cases is 10x or 20x that, higher than any US state outside of maybe California or Texas (which have bigger populations than Taiwan), but those states have way higher vaccination rates than Taiwan, especially California...

[@eyesofthecervino3366]

Please stay safe.

[@shreyaspillai8421]

Hope we overcome this pandemic as soon as possible. I reside in Bangalore,India where at one point there was 320k active cases. Not trying to compare but we had 500 cases a day in 2km radius T-T

[@alex0125tw]

As a first-line health worker, thank you for covering Taiwan’s story ❤️

[@pancake7078]

Ty for your work :) 🇹🇼

[@aaadit4131]

耶稣祝福你

[@Zero-ww3jg]

辛苦了！

[@jaredhung9981]

辛苦了一線醫護人員，台灣人都很感謝你們，要保重！❤️

[@DJNITROALLY]

as a non citizen of Taiwan i would like to thamk u for taking care of all the Taiwan citizen and stay safe

[@chikipichi5280]

The title sounds like a documentary, until it isn't

[@GlitchedBlox]

Taiwanese: *Well, ok.* Americans: *THEY ARE TAKING OUR FREEDOM! THIS IS A CIVIL WAR! PICK UP RIFLE AND SABRE! TO ARMS!*

[@taco1058]

Americans take their "freedom" too seriously. Just because you can run around spreading a virus that kills people, it doesn't mean you should. So ignorant

[@rubytu3sday651]

@@taco1058 ikr, its like choosing to not wear a seatbelt, for no other reason than u can lol.

[@bigsmall246]

This obsession with having as much freedom as possible no matter the cost is exactly what misinformation campaigns are exploiting.

[@Alpha1598753]

@@taco1058 well unlike the Taiwanese governement wich is elected by the people for the people the US one tend to be picked up by the governement to serve itself or the big money industry, how much people can put faith and trust into it determine what it will be able to do in those time Also Taiwanese have a lot of self discipline, something largely lost in the west

[@kaate87]

@@taco1058 are u American

[@maplesyrup8725]

title be like: max was a cool kid... *until he wasnt*

[@yakamurachenabacar5774]

Underrated

[@mxchic05]

Exactly

[@ZFanz]

**reverse color effects*

[@KimiButNoDrink]

Then drove for Reb Bull Racing

[@lovelylipbonesouwwwwwwwolv2198]

Hahaha

[@joybee5862]

Prevention is definitely better than cure.

[@egnartsem670]

especially if cure is not guaranteed

[@thesenate5913]

It's good to have both available But it would be preferrable that perevention must always be present

[@daxshell242]

prevention is necessary until a cure.

[@nntflow7058]

@@daxshell242 Prevention include Vaccine which would also mean worldwide eradication.

[@andrasfogarasi5014]

A cure literally doesn't exist.

[@AC-he8ln]

I live in Taiwan. 2 months ago, when pandemic started, there were 300 infected daily during 10 days or so. After 2 months in Level 3 Alert, now there are between 20 and 60 daily. I remember at the same time we had 300 per day and moved to Level 3 Alert, the Spanish government (my birth country) removed restrictions because they "only had 9000" in a weekend. And to make it clear, we have 50% of the population of Spain, but all squeezed in an island the size of Madrid Area or the Valencian Community.

[@GothCookie]

And this is exactly why, in an age when pandemics will be more common, we have to sacrifice bits of personal freedom to protect everyone else and then after 2 weeks of quarantine, be granted all the freedom one could want instead of losing your freedom over the course of months or years. So, in short: 2 weeks of no freedom vs. 2 years of highly restricted freedom.

[@kelpywelpy3667]

No freedom should be taken ever

[@kelpywelpy3667]

If u wanna quarantine because ur at risk u can but the world needs to work

[@leonardomagnus6762]

@@kelpywelpy3667 this "muh freedom!" mentality is why usa gets 100k covid cases and 2000 deaths *per day*

[@kelpywelpy3667]

@@leonardomagnus6762 freedom is the basis of America

[@ACookie3994]

@@kelpywelpy3667 probably would be the downfall

[@royliu1409]

The recent surge in Taiwan has been attributed to one hotel that didn't separate pilots that fly international routes and others properly, resulting in leakage to the otherwise normally functioning society.

[@lennydooboo4787]

I find it really interesting (and also kind of weird) that they didn't mention the infamous 3+11 plan. That's literally the key reason we had this sudden outbreak -- a couple pilots kickstarted the chain of infections that led to the Lion King, "tea shop" clusters etc.

[@karenmbbaxter]

Similar issues have happened in Australia too and we followed your quarantine rules almost identically. I have watched this virus from the start and many countries who weren't effected a year ago are now including Fiji, South Korea, Australia, Indonesia......It's the DELTA variant which is much more easily passed from one person to the next. The moral to the story is get vaccinated as soon as possible and don't do what some Australians are doing and waiting for a vaccine they prefer or another readily available. ANY VACCINE is better than no vaccine.

[@PaulSmith-pr7pv]

@@poppyseeds439 sorry to hear that

[@DustShining]

As a Taiwanese, I must admit that we are lax. The cause of this outbreak is mentioned in the film: epidemic prevention hotels are slack, high-risk people are not complying with epidemic prevention regulations, and the vaccination rate is low. Although the media and politicians are scolding the CECC every day, as an online Mandarin teacher, I still understand from the students from other countries that Taiwan’s epidemic prevention is still not a failure. For example, on the 7/1 day alone, the death toll in Indonesia surpassed the total death toll in Taiwan. These facts show that this system in Taiwan can still operate. At the beginning of the COVID epidemic, there was a saying that was widely spread in Taiwan: 「同島一命」，"One life on the same island". Because of this concept, we all wear masks, each store automatically puts out sterilizers, and the government proactively provides epidemic prevention hotels or materials to vulnerable groups such as the homeless. Now, we need to adopt this attitude again in order to return to normal life. However, the low vaccination rate remains a major concern. The reasons for this are complicated international wrestling factors and the miscalculations of CECC. Thank the United States, Japan, Lithuania and other countries for donating vaccines to us in such a difficult time. Taiwan will never forget. All of our citizens will continue to work hard and return to the ranks of model in epidemic prevention! Thank you, VOX!

[@markcornelius5291]

@Henry Gill-Pratt Taiwan is nothing like Australia or New Zealand. Taiwan is far more dependent on trade for basic consumer items. They’re not nearly as isolated. Manhattan is an island, too, but that doesn’t mean they could just close access. They’d have people starving to death

[@dalfifran7572]

As Indonesian i envy your good management and epedemic control. But you really can't compare Taiwan case to Indonesia. Geographic, Demographic, Area, and many other aspect it is waaaay much different. I mean... It's the largest Archipelagic state, which span as wide as an entire Europe continent inhabited by +275 million people from dozens of major ethinicity.

[@parameciumtea]

I must say, although we did end up having an outbreak, it was nice to not have to worry about covid for the first year and a half. I'd even forget about it for days until friends overseas complained about being cooped up forever, missing family and friends, getting depressed, or getting covid. Didn't sound very fun, so I'm not particularly mad about missing out on all that for so long and consider myself blessed. We're back to 0 cases/deaths now and are all getting vaxed up to avoid any future scares. All in all, I think we did pretty good. The outbreak did make us all much more empathetic with the rest of the world, but thank god everything has calmed down. I am so very grateful that everyone in this country collectively agreed to sacrifice a few small freedoms for a future where no one has to worry about covid every single day.

[@JustShanos]

I have to say that Taiwan done a phenomenal job and I was personally one of the problems that entered Taiwan when I was there from December 2020 - March 2021. The whole action plan they had was remarkable. I tested positive in my quarantine facility and was immediately placed into the hospital mentioned in this video, Hoping Municipal Hospital and again, everybody there was so cautious, aware and treated it like a genuine threat. Taiwan had success thanks to its obedient society where as the western world, isn't as obedient.

[@uki1810]

Thanks for sharing! But I personally won't call that obedient. I mean, if you know how to treat a virus, you do those to prevent it, right? I would call it a full-knowledge crowd tackling a threat, rather than obedient :)

[@brightdaysaheadofUs]

To be fair, Taiwan is still doing a better job than probably 98% of the other countries in the world. With a population of almost 24 million, to have an average case of just 155 in the last 7 days is pretty good. They can survive this. And they will astonish us once again. They have great leadership. Tsai Ing-wen is doing a great job!

[@MrBlackHawk888]

Now I'm wondering, what are those other ~2% countries, that deal with covid19 better lol.

[@brightdaysaheadofUs]

@@MrBlackHawk888 I could think of New Zealand. 😄

[@danika6195]

@@MrBlackHawk888 east asian countries plus new zealand australia maybe

[@crimsenth]

and we are in quarantine forever situation in Malaysia 🇲🇾 edit: wait for vaccine, stay home, stay safe, stay strong💪🏼

[@3dsaulgoodman43]

As long as Mahiaddin and his gov are in charge of us we will never progress.

[@mossy8133]

Kalau tidak salah angka bundir juga meningkat ya? Semoga masalah ini bisa segara diatasi. Salam dari 🇮🇩

[@chiewata]

@@3dsaulgoodman43 next up Hishamuddin ....... our future is no brighter than now

[@arrhazes8198]

Don't worry. It'll just be until MCO 9.0... Just 9 more years to go...

[@chiewata]

@@arrhazes8198 one of the gift to our nation is our people's sense of humour even in most adverse situation

[@feimma-111]

As a taiwanese person, I am really happy with the government for it's past control of Covid. Even if there was a big outbreak of around 300 ppl per day getting infected, they were able to control it down to single digits in just 1 month with most of the citizens not having access to vaccines(because we didn't have any).

[@josephlin402]

Lol happy ? How? You do realize Covid test in Taiwan cost usd100 unlike the rest of the world is way affordable right lol?

[@feimma-111]

@@josephlin402 yeah, actually that is true. That part about it is bad, but students right now(me) are getting vaccines from the government. What I said I'm happy about though was the speed we were able to control the outbreak, compared to the rest of the world.

[@BenShutUp]

But could this really ever be implemented in the US? Our focus on somewhat irresponsible freedoms and unaffordable healthcare, I just don’t feel that we’ll be all that prepared for the next plague.

[@handylingua]

One way Taiwan’s politicians differ from the US is as I understand it how many of them have medical backgrounds. Their former VP went to Johns Hopkin for example.

[@yakuza01]

you also forgot to mention all the conspiracy theorists and a sadly growing anti-science mentality in the US.

[@AC-he8ln]

Most of the measures taken by Taiwan (universal healthcare, card implementing information, quarantines) would be considered "totalitarian communism" in USA.

[@jversteeg7042]

National health care with digitally connected identity cards were instrumental in success. Americans are unlikely to ever allow that "government overstep." Also instrumental was people following the rules for the betterment of the country and not politicizing mask use at all. And Americans? Hmmm.

[@robertb.australia.8801]

@@yakuza01 America is a bit strange , criticize science while holding an I phone in their hand . Millions of strange people .

[@arpanmishra1684]

Meanwhile in Nepal: Government: wear masks, maintain social distancing, follow lockdown rules People: that sign won't stop me because I can't read.

[@historyeditz8326]

Same about India , pakistan, Bangladesh afterall we are subcontinent mates.

[@radthearchopolist2459]

@@historyeditz8326 Bangladesh just got a hard lockdown like 7 days ago since the cases exploded, this is because the delta variant has been confirmed to be in Bangladesh so yeah however this isn't stopping also a very very bad timing because, in 20 days (20th July) we will have Eid-ul-Azha now how are we supposed to get money to buy a cow if like all banks are closed

[@kazu0808]

lol

[@historyeditz8326]

@@radthearchopolist2459 eid Mubarak in advance but yes I admit that Bangladesh handled the pandemic very well among subcontinent nations. Greetings from India.

[@radthearchopolist2459]

@Ilyass Abbad Well yes but bkash (which I think ur referring to) didn't help my family that much.

[@Maayerr]

despite the outbreak that has taken place about 2 months ago, the cases never go up like in EU or rest of the world, from peak time ~280 til now under 50. The government still did a good job when it comes to the real battle. Also by procrostinating the outbreak, it gives time for the vaccines to be invented, tested and then deployed. Which is the ultimate goal for every government in the world.

[@brightdaysaheadofUs]

Agree

[@EDPistons]

They are lying to their citizens. How is it possible to have 27 new cases and 17 new deaths? They have at least thousands of new cases, so don't trust what their government says. And they only do tests for less than 1% of the population each day, making their statistics unreliable.

[@OninDynamics]

@Vincent Wei no need, that means everyone gets tested by 100-200 days, which honestly is already better than what's happening in a lot of other places (unless I'm misinformed)

[@klsztsu850]

​@@EDPistons No, those people were getting infected and hospitalized a week ago when there were 300 cases per day, and unfortunately they died in hospital now. There will always be a delay in the graph of death compared to the graph of infection.

[@haijinmafuyu]

​@@EDPistons not this theory AGAIN💀 imagine how tired we are

[@strewbarry701]

"Tom was a kind man, until he wasn't."

[@aaramm8]

Please do an updated video. How Taiwan held off covid 19 again!

[@_faultee_]

They also wear masks unlike most Americans. Masks where also very common before the pandemic,.people wore them anytime they felt sick at all because of SARS.

[@JordanHarbingerShow]

...and nobody complained about how it was "just like apartheid and Jim Crow and the Holocaust or something because freedom"

[@jerrysun0667]

That applies to people from Japan, Korea, and China as well. We tend to be more obedient because of our history with our past rulers/governments.

[@wavell14]

Studies have proven masks to be ineffective

[@rantiamanda1342]

@@wavell14 hah. where the valid source you're read ?

[@wavell14]

@@rantiamanda1342 do you speak English?

[@potatosaladd]

The reason why the recent outbreak happened, I would say, was primarily due to loosen up restrictions on pilots and flight attendants, they didn't have to go through the mandatory 14-day quarantine every time they entered because that would make our airlines go bankrupt and there would be too little people to man the planes. They could go out in the public, but they were supposed to be masked at all times and couldn't eat out, etc. It all started when a few of those people broke the rules. And then a few quarantine hotels also managed poorly, allowing regular low-risk people to stay when there were people quarantining there, allowing the virus to spread into the community. Lastly, because the alpha variant was more transmittable than the original virus. These slip ups caused the greatest outbreak in Taiwan in May and this is why we should have been more careful. The government announced that we would go under level-3 restrictions (mask on all times, no dining in, no gathering), but the people just went into voluntary lockdown for the following week or so. You could see no cars and almost no one walking around the city except for grocery shopping. We are still allowed to go to work, but most of my friends' companies and my company started WFH. School closed and went online. Because I live with my family (my mother does all the grocery shopping, once a week, and she actually takes a shower every time she's been out), I actually haven't been out at all since the my last day of work in person on 5/14. Our government didn't do spectacularly well or anything, I think it's because most Taiwanese people behaved so well that we were able to keep it under control for so long. I mean who does self-lockdowns 😂 (of course there are also people who broke rules, hence the outbreak 🤦‍♀️). Our highest daily cases in May was 400-500 I think, I don't remember exactly, but today it was down to 27, and mostly within people that were already in quarantine bc they got into contact with a patient. I hope the good trend continues. Level 3 restrictions may be lifted on 7/12 if the numbers continue to be low. We'll see.

[@Gr95dc]

It's amazing that the people decided to self quarantine so the outbreak couldn't grow. In my country, until this day, people keep complaining about the simple measures of wearing a mask and practicing social distance 😢 and thanks to selfishness of those people, a quarter million people has died due to covid, and that's just the official number 😔

[@FM_GOBi]

Where I come from (Bosnia), we haven't had a single day of lockdown and no one wares a mask outside. Here, people don't want to behave the way they are told. They want to live the way they want. And we are paying a price for this freedom, but we also don't blame the government. East Asian countries have easy time following government rules, so it's to be expected that these extreme measures work in those societies.

[@sarasalem4610]

i'm just amazed at how well behaved you guys are! as a whole society, i wonder what are the reasons for this, if it's the way you lived your whole life and grew up or is it something genetic cuz you're just smart? I'm really fascinated by it

[@johnpark7972]

Similar happened in Cambodia. Some Chinese kids escaped quarantine facility and spread it, and the country is having a bad outbreak.

[@bigfly97]

Well......guess what? Taiwan did it again .4 local COVID cases today(August 23)

[@tashdash5241]

I stand with Taiwan, next olympics I hope you guys get to compete as Taiwan instead of “Chinese Taipei”.

[@glennstewart6632]

I love seeing great stories from Taiwan. Being Australian, Taiwan is not only a country we see as being close, but one many in the know, have as one of those must-see destinations. As a young adult, when I got my first passport (yes, very late international travel for an Aussie), the first country I made a beeline for was Taiwan. I've since been back many times. Beautiful people. Beautiful country. And probably alongside Mexico, one of the countries I know I'll come back from much heavier after eating so much!. Although it's not the same, so happy to have several Taiwanese home cooking style restaurants near me in Sydney. The Taiwanese community here is strong, but Taiwan is always calling me back. I wish them a lot of luck and love from their southern Pacific friends in Australia.

[@bellalin6839]

I didn’t know most Australians knew Taiwan as a must-see destination! Here in the US, in places with less Asians, most people have never even heard of Taiwan 😭 . Anyways, I can’t agree more that you’d always come back heavier after visiting there 🤣

[@wickedhero3764]

Indonesian: " I'll pretend I didn't hear and see that."

[@abrahamdsl]

Hi there Austronesian brothers! - Philippine Islands

[@pised7678]

Dutch

[@_iadit_]

Jerinx approved this message

[@MarkWTK]

my fellow Malaysian politicians would like to say hi✋ they never learn a thing even after 16 months. in fact, things got worse, way worse

[@rcdlie2153]

We're kinda the same. Here in Jakarta its bad right now. Delta variant + masses holiday migration hits us pretty bad!!! So sad.

[@somedude4041]

These videos are my lifeline, they’re amazingly well edited and have a great script. Thank you for the informative videos Vox.

[@brendan7094]

Just a friendly reminder Taiwan is its own free independent country

[@taxevasiongaming]

-300000 social credit score

由于您的社会信用评分较低，我们将不得不移除您的球

[@jasons6368]

RE: Why it didn't (not mentioned in the video) The first outbreak occurred after airline staff were quarantined in a non-sanctioned hotel long with domestic tourists, from here it spread to Taipei's red-light district, where the cases first exploded in mid-May. Last month a returning family who had traveled from Peru brought the Delta variant with them, and because upon arrival listed their home address as their quarantine facility were able to travel directly home in a taxi, stopping along the way to chat with friends and relations. This resulted in the government releasing stricter quarantine rules for travelers. Taiwan's done a great job, relatively speaking, but I'm at amazed at how easily the virus has slipped through despite a year and a half to have contingency plans in place. There has never been mass testing, and vaccine supply and administration (the real key solving this problem), continues to lag; but that's another story...

[@steepbun]

Incredible how this video failed to say anything other than a single vague line about how Taiwan “gradually loosened its quarantine system”. Like seriously?

[@MaJuV]

"upon arrival listed their home address as their quarantine facility were able to travel directly home" Wait, that was possible the entire time? This was the basic quarantine measures for most other countries and caused major outbreaks because the majority of people at home don't follow quarantine rules."

[@zaz5190]

Finally someone who knows the truth is speaking, this video is totally garbage.

[@jasons6368]

@@zaz5190 The video is accurate, they just didn't go into detail about why cases went up in May 2021.

[@dinohsu6523]

Should add that restrictions on airline pilots was quite loose..only 5 days of mandatory quarantine and then a week of "self health management (basically can go out for bare necessities)". In this case the pilot in question went out and about for more than just bare necessities to say the least

[@bruh_rick]

Just a side note as a native: We don’t have enough vaccines now to ensure this sustains. Right now our government is struggling to purchase vaccines because our hostile neighbor PRC kept making our international presence political. We need vaccines. Human lives are at stake, and our neighbor still cares more about their political ego. That’s sad. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@PEK-97]

"PRC obstructing vaccine purchases" such a smooth lie. Tsai insisted buying BioNTech vaccines from Germany. BioNTech partners with Fosun for sales in the Greater China area, meaning Taiwan's BNT vaccine purchases must be made with Fosun. The Germans won't sell vaccines to you because they violate contracts and pay fines if they do. We are not the ones risking lives playing the political game, you are.

[@Gamecubesupreme]

@@PEK-97 Whoever defined the term "Greater China" is the one playing political games.

[@BicyclesMayUseFullLane]

@@Gamecubesupreme Well, gee, why won't Tsai government sue BioNTech and Fosun then? After all, if the term "greater China region" is the point of contention, surely a lawsuit would settle the issue?

[@Gamecubesupreme]

@@BicyclesMayUseFullLane On what basis would this lawsuit be? There is no breach of contract and BioNTech/Fosun owes no duty to Taiwan. Care to explain your thought process?

[@DavidGravesExists]

@@Gamecubesupreme That was nearly all Western corporations in the 1970s and 80s. I think they are playing "I want to make money" games, rather than political games.

[@ffebyy]

This video’s such a great piece! Would love if you guys would do one on Australia!!!

[@Maria_Barcelos]

I imagine how it was to have a responsible government leadership during this pandemic. As a Brazilian I must say that I envy this.

[@wigglewiggle4201]

As someone who’s in the uk I envy this

[@oris2723]

@@wigglewiggle4201 where in UK? Londonistan or Manchester

[@wigglewiggle4201]

@@oris2723 Edinburgh

[@wigglewiggle4201]

@@oris2723 but I’m talking about boris mainly

[@theshonen8899]

Taiwan peak 7-day case average: 597/24 million Florida today: 2241/21.5 million Taiwan "crisis" is America's party time.

[@ryukiT3]

Taiwan: cases surge! Stores closing !(500) USA: things are opening up! things are good (10k)

[@BillyBob_McSanchez]

It's all Trump's fault

[@abel3557]

@@BillyBob_McSanchez bidens*

[@alexandermendez9013]

@@abel3557 Biden bad

[@Kevbot6000]

Taiwan population with at least one dose of the vaccine: 12.1% Taiwan fully vaccinated: 0.2% USA population with at least one dose of the vaccine: 55.7% USA fully vaccinated: 48.1%

[@averagefalloutNVfan]

Taiwan defiantly has way more people than the us

[@BarelyNoticeable]

“Until it didn’t” for two months tops before it’s returned back to normal. It’s been averaging less than 10 cases for the past month. Update this title.

[@lifeintaiwan]

Taiwan number one!

[@kgsniper4850]

How’s life in Taiwan LifeInTaiwan?

[@Shaoc0872]

Taiwan, China btw

[@ampoule1878]

@@Shaoc0872 +10 social credit points for you, patriotic comrade!

[@josephlin402]

Number one by not providing affordable Covid testing 😂

[@rogerup]

= = 注意雖然做的很好 但我們可別自滿阿 影片說得很清楚 你這讓我尷尬 哈哈

[@newgabe09]

Interesting that during the description of life in Taiwan as 'normal, free' everyone is shown wearing masks- something that certain elements of the West regard as some kind of ghastly attack on freedom. Also,, this is rather similar to the story so far in Australia.

[@izangomso]

People are expected to be socially responsible and wear masks across east asia if you have so much as a sniffle since forever. If you coughed/sneezed on public transport without a mask you'd get death stares. So it wasn't at all difficult to get people to wear masks with a pandemic.

[@stevx007]

wearing mask is quite normal in east / southeast asia even before the pandemic. so yeah

[@andromedamessier3176]

We have to wear mask in East/south east Asia cause of dust, pollution, and others before pandemic. It is not a stigma. It is just normal everyday life. You wear it or you don’t.

[@camillecamille04]

Taiwan’s peak infection numbers are still significantly lower than most of the world.

[@SWIFTIESCHN]

Yeah but the infection number per 100 people is right now one of the highest in the world.

[@Kokochocomouchoco]

While it is one of the lowest, shouldn’t we be looking at percentages instead? It’s like comparing China to Hawaii. There’s a massive pop difference.

[@mr.gubagub1899]

There were 400k daily cases in India at one time

[@bctvanw]

@@SWIFTIESCHN According to "worldometers" Taiwan is ranked 199 out of 222 based on total cases per 1 M people.

[@camillecamille04]

@@SWIFTIESCHN I haven't seen stats for infection rates per 100 people so far (only per million) but Taiwan's numbers are still pretty low compared to similarly sized populations like Sri Lanka, Australia, right? Even Belgium with its significantly smaller population size has higher rates for new cases, deaths, and overall infection rates.

[@oneballboy8979]

yeh this is so sensationalist like, their daily cases are much lower than here in the UK and we have vaccinated a huge amount of the population

[@axe863]

Taiwan is one of my favorite countries.

[@coldbreeze]

Welcome to Taiwan in the near future

[@winnieww5031]

I'm Taiwanese😊our situation is getting better now(we have 27 cases today)Be safe everyone!!!❤️🙏🏻I hope everyone can come to visit Taiwan in one day!!!

[@de22bock]

As an American, Taiwan is a wonderful country to visit, Taiwan is friendly, inexpensive, you can walk around anywhere and feel safe from crime, all public signage is also in English and Taiwan is more different than Europe. Check B&B prices.

[@jansg405]

@Winnie Ww Great to hear that the covid situation in your country is getting better. I would like to visit Taiwan again. My last visit was in summer 2019 attending .黃阿瑪的後宮生活 book autograph signing. 台灣政府，人民加油!

[@winnieww5031]

@@jansg405 Thank uuuuu! I wish u had fun last time🤍Wowww hahahaha I didn't know that they are so famous, their cats are so adorable☺️I love them too

[@jansg405]

@@winnieww5031 Oh yes, I enjoyed the seminar so much and simply love the Taiwanese, both adults young and old and children at the seminar. They are awesome. 😊.I managed to have a short conversation with the two authors of 黃阿瑪的後宮生活 while getting their autographs . I have been following their website since 2015. By the way, I am a Singaporean. Hope to attend such event again after this pandemic and visiting other places in other parts of Taiwan. Stay safe.

[@winnieww5031]

@@jansg405 Wowoww I love Singapore!!! I had been to Singapore at least 5 times and I probably will go to Singapore for work next month!!!

[@onethree6023]

when you have a country that takes a pandemic seriously, there will be results

[@DK-mx4wn]

china took pandemic seriously, now china has lesser covid patients in the past few months

[@aamirrazak3467]

for sure, it's not that hard to figure out. If the virus was taken seriously from the beginning in places like the US, I wonder how many lives could've been saved

[@bruhsauce644]

this is the problem. people are waiting until it becomes an issue. beat it up while its still a toddler, don't wait around until it can beat YOU up.

[@dumzoawillofficalfpdd4565]

@@DK-mx4wn yeah china has improved in cases!!!

[@DOCTORKHANblog]

@@dumzoawillofficalfpdd4565 Found the China bot.

[@wowojaja6756]

-100000 Social Credit Score

[@wotiop237]

Taiwan: System failed and cases starting to re-surge Vietnam: First time?

[@weylandyutani9622]

Being an Island helps. UK totally messed up opportunities to control covid.

[@ignwillie]

Indonesia also messed up 😭😭

[@OurCumrade]

@@ignwillie it is poorer So it couldn't handle the situation as good as Britain

[@lilaclizard4504]

This island thing is seriously overrated! Look at Vietnam's management, with a long land border to China. Look at that whole region actually, Laos, Cambodia are there with Vietnam, then there's Thailand & Singapore doing well too & then we see Indonesia as mentioned & Philippines that are more island than the former but having far higher cases. Look at how Australia managed it, an island yes BUT 810 deaths in a single state of 6.5million, compared to 100 deaths in the rest of the country of 18.5 million, with only land borders separating those states & no real authority to close state borders, since it's a single country (but they did it anyway & let those that didn't like it challenge it in court)

[@M-Soares]

@@lilaclizard4504 Vietnam's response was amazing, a small country with limited resources, almost 100 million people with one of the highest population densities in the world, a huge border with China and despite all that they only experience 90 deaths from COVID. Truly exemplary.

[@Same1689hfrh]

Usa is moving towards there

[@dgmojojojo]

Their highest is other country’s all time low. Blame it on other countries for too afraid to give Taiwan vaccine because we might get “Chinese pressure”, and i am chinese descent myself. Pls put political things aside for humanity isn’t this supposed to be base logical things to do.

[@gabrielmoreirabr]

America and Japan sent several doses recently

[@Aurea-Highdiocratis]

I think Chinese Government offered Taiwan their own vaccines but they have to agree some really weird terms

[@samkalapseudo8998]

yep, blame mainland China is so convenient. just turn blind eye to corrupt gov who promised purchase enough vaccine in time, prepare a year ahead, then got donated thousands dose AZ from Japan, killed 200s old people even they know EU has banned AZ for security concerned

[@appelanseeofbogalusa5235]

Yeah the US and Japan recently donated vaccines to Taiwan. China offered to sell some but there’s a big catch with their offer, not to mention China and Taiwan have been and currently are on terrible terms with one another. Taiwan took the US and Japanese vaccines. Hopefully things get better over there.

[@LIETUVIS10STUDIO1]

You should talk about China's interference in WHO prevented Taiwan from vaccinating.

[@triggerfish9967]

This video makes it sound like Taiwans case number has sky rocketed to critical, irreversable numbers. But in reality it was a temporary, slight spike in an otherwise still manageable situation. Taiwan is still doing relatively very well, UNLIKE MOST OTHER COUNTRIES!!!

[@hewhohasnoidentity4377]

Unfortunately if another pandemic occurs during a US election year we will again refuse to work together for the common good.

[@theweatherisaokay4964]

Oops, found you here.😁

[@jujut5221]

The thumbnail to this video looks like a dystopian Abbey Road album cover

[@bromaro]

@Rvve Duio Taiwan population: 20 million Us population: 300 million

[@aveenburney7463]

underrated

[@BlinkyLass]

The curve is now on a sharp downward trend with daily cases in the double digits. Looks like full containment is within sight. @@bromaro US population density: 36 per sq km, Taiwan population density: 673 per sq km. To put things into perspective, Taiwan's total case numbers over the entire pandemic is about half of the number of cases in the US from yesterday.

[@wedonteatbears]

The biggest obstacle to Taiwan's vaccination process is, sadly still due to one of its biggest rivals, China. The Chinese government has been constantly blocking business deals of vaccine companies with Taiwan like BioNTech, which results in the US regularly sending military aircraft to deliver their own vaccines to Taiwan. They are still honestly not enough for the 23 million population in the country, and can hinder the end of the pandemic in Taiwan for quite some time.

[@jakeybeans]

You think Taiwan exists? -5991 credit score! glory to the CCP!

[@miasam3625]

Just a quick reminder that Taiwan is a country. Have nice day all.

[@divisix024]

(takes out popcorn)

[@joshua_prime3743]

Always has been

[@tvtriviachampion]

❤️ Taiwan 🇹🇼

[@stonynotdusty]

Taiwan number 1

[@jasperchuang274]

@@divisix024 boss music starts

[@satriaamiluhur622]

Media need to publish positive, hopeful stories like this to encourage people to do better. Way too many negativity surrounding covid news

[@mrman991]

positive stories don't sell as well

[@vcu3rams]

@vox I would be very interested to see a follow-up piece based on the timeline at 4:37. Have we seen an increase in these types of outbreaks over certain time periods and what contributing factors (e.g. technology development, globalization, etc.)?

[@gwot]

During the outbreak, Taiwan's streets were empty, shops closed, and school went online, all before the government announced lock down. Majority of Taiwan's citizen did their part, and knew what to do. Then you have North America... during a martial law lock down, people gathering in storage, partying, opened shops illegally, anti mask rallies every week... Taiwan got its numbers down to 0 in a couple of months. America's fight for freedom costed them almost 2 years of restrictions... but go ahead, exercise your "god given right" to freedom.

[@marcusoconner2805]

Cases are now back down again!

[@TankJr.]

It shows that on the video. You should watch it.

[@ariadhikarayendra5111]

In Indonesia, the government response is slow and doesn't want to implement lockdowns, probably because of a law that require the government to give free basic needs to all people and livestocks. Instead, the government implement some sort of severe restrictions with only very limited basic needs provided to the people. What's the result? Cases gone up significantly in recent weeks with the medical sector collapsing and many people died at home unable to get the help they needed. Its a mix of government terrible management, many people being forced to continue working to fulfill their needs, and also some that don't really care.

[@jdmmg4904]

This is really sad:(

[@pakponidi]

70% uang beredar ada di Jakarta, jadi kalau Jakarta lumpuh istilahnya nyawa tinggal sisa 30%

[@kuntinghsu]

Broooooo as a Taiwanese I’m so happy that people noticed.

[@IsaacCV760]

Taiwan did it the right way and i hope America can learn from it