The Taiwan government led by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has been vigilant since the COVID-19 outbreak started in 2019, and the overall epidemic prevention strategy has worked well for over a year.
Nevertheless, it was perhaps inevitable that, like other countries, local community spread was going to happen eventually. The Taiwan government has wasted no time in redeploying the epidemic workforce and medical professionals to focus on containing local transmissions.
The Taiwan Medical Association (TMA) and its 52,000 physician members are duty-bound to fight the pandemic. Since the outbreak in 2019, TMA has rallied the medical community and been on the frontline of the fight against COVID.
During the past 19 months, TMA has organized meetings, regularly developed important recommendations, and has worked tirelessly to protect the healthcare system and promote pandemic control.
We believe in the primary healthcare network, hospital care, and our training as physicians to contain the epidemic — despite the recent increase of cases. Let us brace ourselves for the battle ahead, no matter how long or how hard it is.
The deciding factor in beating this virus will be Taiwan's people. Most have a strong sense of civic responsibility and are highly cooperative. A sense of duty will be key to containing this wave of local cases.
The situation appears difficult, but even so, we are cautiously optimistic that we can overcome any further problems and turn this around, into a proud achievement for the nation.
