While the US and Europe struggled with nCoV, Singapore or South Korea effectively curb Covid-19 thanks to previous anti-epidemic experience.

Just hours after mainland China announced its first cases of nCoV in Wuhan, the Hong Kong Health Protection Center asked doctors in the special district to collect the travel and contact history of patients. have a fever, or have acute respiratory symptoms, then isolate them.

On the island of Taiwan, officials immediately boarded planes from Wuhan, checking the symptoms of every passenger before allowing them to leave. Within a few days, Singapore, South Korea and many other Asian countries took similar measures.

Despite its close ties with mainland China and being among the first places where Covid-19 appeared, the percentage of patients in Taiwan, Hong Kong or Singapore was significantly lower than in the US and Europe currently. now on. The number of people dying from nCoV in Italy is close to that of China. The state of New York, USA, whose population is similar to Taiwan, detected more than 2,300 people infected with nCoV, and the island so far has recorded only 100 cases.

Experts say that Western countries simply are not ready to deal with pandemics. Meanwhile, the accumulated experience from previous diseases such as SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), MERS (respiratory syndrome of the Middle East) is one of the factors that help countries and territories. Asia "stood firm" before Covid-19.

Taiwan, with a different regulatory regime than mainland China, has a pandemic response system in place. One year after SARS, Taiwan established the Health Command Center, with the participation of representatives from all government agencies and agencies, in preparation for the risk of another disease outbreak.

According to C. Jason Wang, an expert at Stanford University, USA, the agency's response over the past two months has been crucial in helping Taiwan "take the disease one step ahead". "They did not hesitate and they did not want to die. Witnessing the high mortality rate of SARS, they were not sure how bad the Covid-19 would be. No one thought the disease was like flu," Wang said.

As early as January 5, Taiwan searched for people who had been to Wuhan for 15 days. Anyone who has respiratory symptoms is isolated. In the following weeks, officials used data and technology to identify and monitor cases, and effectively communicate to reassure the public. The government also supports businesses, allocates health resources to the places most needed, and enhances the production of supplies.

After recording 23 new nCoV infections on March 18, the highest increase in a day, the Taiwanese government asked residents not to leave the island, while also banning most people from entering the country, hoping curb the number of new infections.

Due to the delay in announcing the outbreak after the outbreak of Covid-19, China was judged to have not imbued the lesson from SARS. South Korea, meanwhile, has become a model for testing by learning from the MERS outbreak. A shortage of test kits is thought to be the cause of the MERS epidemic in 2015 in South Korea.

Virus testing in the US is strictly controlled by the central government. In Korea, the private sector is also involved in this process, opening up the possibility of "speedy" testing. More than 260,000 people in Korea have been tested for nCoV, the number anywhere in the world has been achieved. Testing and treatment fees are also paid by the government and mobile testing stations.

Singapore, Hong Kong or Japan are somewhat able to control the disease through testing capabilities. These places all develop their own diagnostic testing process after the nCoV gene sequence is published.

"Through the SARS pandemic, Singapore learned the lesson that we must develop those things from the beginning. Once you have control of your own destiny, you can decide the future path," said Leong Hoe. Nam, an infectious disease specialist at Mount Elizabeth Hospital, Singapore, said. "We were badly damaged by SARS, but it turned out to be a blessing."

Outside of mainland China, Hong Kong is the most heavily affected by SARS with about 300 deaths. They were blind in the pandemic in 2003 until it was too late. The Hong Kong government, which has been under pressure for eight months of protests, was initially criticized for not closing schools and border gates fast enough after the outbreak of Covid-19.

However, the number of nCoV infections in Hong Kong is currently less than 200 with 4 deaths, attributed to the fierceness of the people. Since early February, companies decided to close, turning the city's financial district into a "ghost town". Bakeries often crowded with people stopped working.

Parties, weddings, and family gatherings are canceled without government orders. People rushed to buy masks. A recent study estimated that 74-98% of Hong Kong residents wear masks when outside. Hong Kong's voluntary social distance is also thought to be one of the reasons for its lower incidence.

Strict surveillance measures in Asia are also effective in the fight against Covid-19. The Singapore Criminal Investigation Department is responsible for interrogating every nCoV case in detail, even using a patient's electronic wallet to track their every move. Those who make false statements must pay fines and even face imprisonment.

This series of strong measures has helped Singapore be hailed as the "gold standard" in identifying patients. According to a study by the Center for Infectious Dynamics of Harvard University in the US, Singapore's ability to detect nCoV infections is 2.5 times higher than the global average, thanks to "epidemiological surveillance and human tracing." aggressively ".

In Korea, the traveling history of Covid-19 patients before they were tested are collected and transferred via smartphones, creating real-time maps of dangerous locations to avoid.

Meanwhile, Taiwan tracks patients' whereabouts via smartphones. People who go too far from the location they are in will receive a warning message, and if ignored, the police will arrive. In Hong Kong, isolated people are required to activate real-time location sharing on their phones, or wear electronic surveillance bands.

These Asian countries and territories do not impose full blockade orders like Wuhan. Matthew Kavanagh, an expert at Georgetown University, said that the US should study places like South Korea to "balance the openness of democracy and the quick action of public health".

Despite privacy concerns, experts say Western governments must still quickly prepare for restricting citizens' movement, forcing patients to quarantine and monitor contact history. them before everything is too late.

"Many countries are still sitting there and wondering what will happen. As a member of WHO, I am deeply disappointed that I cannot clarify to the world about the danger," said Dale Fisher, professor of infectious diseases at National University of Singapore, also a WHO expert, said. "The preparatory process will save thousands of lives in the US and Europe, as well as billions of dollars for the economy. Otherwise, a lot of people will die."