The Netherlands recorded more than 800 people died from Covid-19 than Taiwan, pursuing the idea of "community immunity" based on people's consciousness.

With a population of nearly 24 million, Taiwan recorded only 440 cases positive for nCoV and 7 deaths.

The question is what makes the difference between the two places.

When Covid-19 attacked the Netherlands in March, people were recommended to restrict to affected areas.

The Netherlands is also one of the few countries to pursue the idea of "community immunity" in the war against Covid-19.

To pursue this goal, the Netherlands adopted a fairly soft anti-epidemic strategy, known as "smart blockade" by officials.

"What I know is that everyone around me is happy when they are treated as adults, not as children," Prime Minister Rutte said in April.

To reduce the level of nCoV infection, schools, offices, restaurants and bars must be closed.

"We think we are wise. We don't want to overreact and lock people in the house," said Dr. Louise van Schaik of the Clingendael Institute for External Relations.

When the number of Covid-19 deaths per day falls below 100, it is seen as a testament to the success of the "smart blockade" strategy, said Cha-Hsuan Liu, lecturer in social policy and

Prime Minister Rutte previously said it took "months or even longer to create community immunity".

Taiwan also has no option to blockade to control the epidemic.

However, Taiwanese English-Vietnamese leader took very drastic steps to prevent the outbreak, such as quickly banning all people from China and later other regions.

Taiwan's decisions are partly driven by a lack of faith in the information China shares and Beijing's deterrence of the island from joining the World Health Organization (WHO).

But Taiwan's anti-epidemic approach is based not only on the sense of individual responsibility and also on a supervised form of self-discipline.

A Centers for Response to Disease (CECC) was quickly set up to provide continuous updates, including details of the contact and travel history of nCoV infected people.

If a hospital detects a person with symptoms of a viral infection, the hospital will immediately report to the CECC, the agency responsible for tracing his or her travel history and contact in public places, such as a supermarket.

A message will usually have the following content: Translation alert.

All this is done on the principle of confidentiality of information so the identity of the infected person will not be disclosed.

Taiwan also introduced an "electronic fence" system, which allows local officials to monitor the whereabouts of people in isolation.

While the people of Taiwan know that this surveillance would violate their privacy, the majority of them accept the use of personal data and are willing to comply with government regulations.

Although Taiwan has been successful with its anti-epidemic strategy, this model is also difficult to apply in the Netherlands.

However, Jaap Bos, an associate professor of interdisciplinary social sciences at Utrecht University, said that the most important difference is that the Netherlands upholds values of autonomy and freedom, so it is responsible for the issue.