Two things caught my attention in the Twitterverse today: President Tsai Ing-wen’s tweet thanking the recognition of Taiwan’s effort to control the spread of Coronavirus disease (COVID)-19, and the infographic from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) showing that the Philippines might be acquiring the COVID vaccine only by the second quarter of 2022 to 2023. Both reveal how poorly the Philippines is handling the pandemic. But, just how different really are the COVID-19 responses of Taiwan and the Philippines?
According to Forbes, President Tsai Ing-wen implemented a rigorous contact-tracing program that only seven people died in Taiwan due to COVID-19. The contact tracing started as early as January, the month when the Philippines is still in denial of the existence of the virus in the archipelago. Taiwan also implemented strict border controls and entry policy in the first quarter of 2020 while the Philippines was, in the same period, still welcoming with open arms foreigners especially those coming from Wuhan and the mainland China.
