[The War Against the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-2019): Keys to Successfully Defending Taiwan].

ABSTRACT

The outbreak of COVID-19 triggered the largest human-virus war in this century. Current evidence indicates that the SARS-CoV-2 strain of coronavirus is mainly transmitted by droplets either by direct or indirect contact. The duration of infectiousness of COVID-19 ranges from 1-2 days before and 7-10 days after the onset of symptoms. It is often difficult to detect the signs and symptoms of infection and to implement timely intervention during the very early stage of infection. Thus, finding and isolating symptomatic patients may not be sufficient to contain this epidemic. Therefore, it is very important to wear masks, take personal precautions, and practice recommended social distancing to achieve source control and stop transmission. Taiwan has learned from its previous experience with the SARS epidemic and prepared for the potential of new disease outbreaks for at least 17 years. This helped the government to implement a multifaceted strategy in the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak. Taiwan's effective response has made the country a model for pandemic response policy that has been appreciated internationally. This paper examines COVID-19 epidemic prevention from the perspective of infection control strategies. In Taiwan, hospital infection control, which is practiced nationwide, emphasizes the importance to epidemic prevention of collecting and tracking travel history, occupation, contact history, cluster (TOCC) information; practicing hand hygiene; promoting the correct use of personal protective equipment; and maintaining safe distances from others. Personal control measures are recognized as critical to providing a safe environment for patients and staff.