Mass testing is still unnecessary in Taiwan as COVID-19 status in Taiwan is different from global coronavirus developments


PublishTime:2020-07-29
Regarding some scholars’ opinion that mass testing should be required for travelers bound for Taiwan, the CECC stated that though mass testing can identify asymptomatic carriers, our measures of a 14-day period of home quarantine imposed on arrivals and a 7-day period of self-health management following the end of the quarantine period for asymptomatic individuals have continued to effectively contain the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Taiwan. There are cases of asymptomatic individuals infecting others, which resulted in outbreaks in communities, in other countries or regions. One of the reasons for the community outbreaks in some countries or regions might be that they didn’t implement a 14-day period of quarantine or require contacts of confirmed cases to self-isolate at home for 14 days, which is different from Taiwan’s quarantine measures.

In Taiwan, after infection with COVID-19 has been laboratory-confirmed in a reported case, health authorities will identify contacts of the confirmed case who meet epidemiological criteria, including asymptomatic carriers or infected individuals with early symptoms, whether clustering is observed or not. Furthermore, molecular diagnostic testing for the diagnosis of COVID-19 is adopted. Taiwan’s epidemic prevention and control efforts are in line with the testing strategies of many medically advanced countries worldwide, and are composed of various measures, not just testing.