For a Drag-on War on the Pandemic Prevention, We Must Inventory War Resources and Strategies

 For a Drag-on War on the Pandemic Prevention, We Must Inventory War Resources and Strategies

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

March 29, 2020

 Translation of an Excerpt

The battlefields against the global pandemic have been shifting; the US has exceeded 120,000 confirmed cases, far surpassing the Chinese Mainland, becoming the top country in terms of the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases. In the UK, from Prince Charles, Prime Minister Boris Johnson to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, have all been confirmed. In Taiwan, the source of infected cases has also reflected a similar epidemic situation; transborder cases from the US and Europe have been placed first and second, totaling over one-third of all confirmed cases. The changes in the global battlefield against the pandemic have escalated the situation; Taiwan must also inventory resources and strategies in epidemic prevention and control.

It is assessed that Taiwan has currently passed the initial stage of the big pandemic, just entering the stage of warning. As we do not have an adequate grasp of the infected people with the new coronavirus, reagents for testing, medications and vaccines are still in the initial stage, thus we must have a long-term plan for this war against the pandemic.

Ho Ta-yi, an academician of the Academia Sinica, a couple of days ago, contributed an article to the United Daily News, reminding the public that the world was currently facing a real possibility, i.e., the new cooronavirus would become a reality in our lives, until scientific research succeeded in conquering it. He said, however, we must "buy time". Facing the second wave of attack of the virus, we confront more unknowns, with battlefield formations becoming more powerful; up to now Taiwan’s epidemic prevention and control are generally satisfactory, but anti-epidemic manpower is being strained and medical supplies could already have hit bottom, all these being realistic. Only by inventorying resources and strategies in countering the pandemic can Taiwan "buy time", eventually winning this protracted war.

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