Taiwan Insight
Date: 25 June 2020
By: Najee Woods.
Image credit: 20200407_taiwanscreencovid by Prachatai /Flickr, license: CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
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]