Taiwan Insight
Date: 25 June 2020
By: Najee Woods.

COV-19 has changed the global order as we know it. This deadly Coronavirus, first found in Wuhan, China, approx. 394k patients have died, while the Coronavirus infected another 6.4 million. While the world is engulfed in this pandemic, one nation has stepped up its humanitarian aid and provided a light of hope to the world, Taiwan. The Taiwanese government has taken up the mantle and provided an essential piece of cloth to combat COV-19: surgical masks.

In the beginning stages of COV-19, Taiwan’s mask supply was not enough to generously donate to other countries. The Taiwanese government initially banned exporting face masks when COV-19 was at its peak in East Asia. The reasoning behind this decision was because Taiwan could only manufacture approx. 1.88 million masks per day in late January. The low amount of mask supplies in Taiwan, led to the Tsai Administration implementing a mask rationing system, which not only equally distributed masks to citizens but also prevented certain individuals from hoarding Taiwan’s mask supply.

Since late January, Taiwan has ramped up its mask production from 1.88 million to 20 million masks a day. This was only possible due to Taiwan setting up additional production lines within a short period. With a steady amount of mask supply in Taiwan, this has allowed the government to begin donating face masks to countries hardest hit by the Coronavirus. Taiwan has also become the second-largest mask producer in the entire world, only behind the People’s Republic of China.    [FULL  STORY]