Health minister seeks Taiwan’s help in fight against Coronavirus

THIS COUNTRY’S HEALTH MINISTRY will be sure to capitalise on its diplomatic ties with the Republic of China on Taiwan to gain valuable knowledge on how to effectively manage the coronavirus (COVID-19).

Luke Browne, the health minister confirmed St Vincent and the Grenadines’ first case of the coronavirus (COVID-19) on Wednesday, March 11.

And he told SEARCHLIGHT yesterday that he has written to the resident ambassador of the Republic of China on Taiwan, Calvin Ho to outline the country’s interest in receiving assistance in dealing with COVID-19.

“It’s quite remarkable that they’re just 81 miles from mainland China and whereas coronavirus in mainland China has been spiralling out of control, they have just 47 cases I think as of today (March 12). That’s incredible,” Browne said.

The health minister said that the details of the cooperation have not been finalized but “we’re working on specifying the areas where we need assistance and I think it will bear fruit…we’re working with them and trying to get a sense of what they’ve been doing”.

Taiwan is not a part of the World Health Assembly as it is not recognised as being an independent country under the One-China policy.

To date, the country with almost 24 million people has recorded only 47 cases of COVID-19 and one death.

Browne said the ambassador has mentioned some of the measures that Taiwan has taken, some of which he believes will work in the Vincentian context while others may not.

But the minister said those measures will be assessed against this country’s specific situation and the best practices will be implemented.

Calvin Ho, Taiwan’s ambassador to SVG told SEARCHLIGHT that his government is doing its best in trying to contain the disease.

Like Browne, he noted Taiwan’s close proximity to mainland China and his country’s ability to effectively contain the spread of COVID-19.

The ambassador said Taiwan employs several measures, including maintaining transparency with the people through daily updates, which are presented by the health minister.

But he said that it is the country’s history of dealing with infectious diseases that makes them fit to offer advice on how to deal with cases like these.

“Because we had experience to deal with SARS in the year 2003…we had that experience so we have more experience to know how to deal with infectious diseases like this,” Ho said.

He said that SVG’s first case was announced this week and “we will stay in touch with the ministry to see what kind of experience we can share here”.

The ambassador said COVID-19 is still new to countries in that there is still some uncertainty surrounding the virus but he said that cooperation among countries is key in addressing the issue.