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Review
. 2023 Jun;56(3):433-441.
doi: 10.1016/j.jmii.2023.04.001. Epub 2023 Apr 6.

How Taiwan has responded to COVID-19 and how COVID-19 has affected Taiwan, 2020-2022

Chih-Cheng Lai  1 , Ping-Ing Lee  2 , Po-Ren Hsueh  3
Affiliations
Review

How Taiwan has responded to COVID-19 and how COVID-19 has affected Taiwan, 2020-2022

Chih-Cheng Lai et al. J Microbiol Immunol Infect. 2023 Jun.

Abstract

From January 2020 to December 2022, there was a total of 8,872,955 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Taiwan. In addition, a total of 15,253 COVID-19 related deaths were reported. During these three years, the government and health authority did many efforts to response this pandemic. In the early pandemic, Taiwan Central Epidemic Command Center was established in the early 2020 to organize associated resource, develop effective policy and implement strict intervention. In response to COVID-19 pandemic, many infection control policy and interventions, including universal mask wearing with increasing production of face mask, hand hygiene, border control, introduce of digital technology incorporating big data, quarantine of COVID-19 cases, travel and gathering restriction, were implemented. In the meanwhile, two COVID-19 vaccines, namely MVC-COV1901 and UB-612, have been developed under the support of government. Furthermore, MVC-COV1901 was taken into clinical practice after received emergency use approval. In addition, two traditional Chinese medicines, including NRICM101 and NRICM102 showed their promising effect against SARS-CoV-2 infection and were recommended as potential therapeutic options for COVID-19. During the pandemic, the nonpharmacologic intervention help reduce many infectious diseases, especially for airborne/droplet-transmitted diseases. However, COVID-19 exhibited some adverse impacts on the healthcare systems, such as emergency medical service on out of hospital cardiac arrest, cancer screening, HIV screening and prevention services, and public health, namely the psychosocial status of healthcare workers. Although the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 infections may gradually subsided, we should keep monitoring its associated impact and appropriately response to this pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; Omicron; SARS-CoV-2; Taiwan; Vaccines.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Figure 1
The monthly case number of new COVID-19 in 2020 (A), 2021 (B) and 2022 (C).
Fig. 2
Figure 2
Distribution of domestic case from 2020 to January 13, 2022. Data obtained from Taiwan Centers for Diseases Control (https://www.cdc.gov.tw) as of February 23, 2023.
Fig. 3
Figure 3
Number of deaths among patients with moderate and severe COVID-19 according to different age groups.
Fig. 4
Figure 4
Distribution of deaths of domestic cases of COVID-19 from January 1st 2020 to February 14th, 2023.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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