Every country around the world is putting emergency measures into place because of Covid-19.
In Singapore, people are told to stay at home (as much as possible).
It’s now an offence for companies to stop people from working from home.
And the transport minister told Singaporeans to avoid taking public transport during peak hours.
In Taiwan, the government went one step further.
Everyone Who Takes Public Transport in Taiwan Now Needs to Wear a Mask Before Entering the Station
According to Taiwan News, everyone who needs to take trains and inter-city buses in Taiwan has to wear masks from 1 Apr 2020.
This includes people travelling via the Taiwan High-Speed Rail trains (THSR), Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) trains and buses.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) emphasised that both travellers and employees must follow “strict epidemic protocols” during the upcoming Qingming festival to help curb Covid-19 transmission.
Local city governments in Taiwan will also plan and implement mask requirements on the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and city buses within their own areas “in the coming days”.
As for whether their people will have enough masks, that’ll remain to be seen.
After all, they’ve even got their prison inmates to help sew masks.
Temperature Checks Will Be Implemented at Stations
It’s not just masks.
It was added that temperature checks with infrared sensors and temperature guns will be set up at train stations, airports, ports and more.
So far, they are planned for:
- 12 THSR stations
- 239 TRA stations
- 1,298 post offices, airports, ports, freeway service areas and bus transfer stations.
Anyone with a forehead temperature of 37.5 degrees Celsius or an ear temperature of 38 degrees will be stopped from going onto public transport.
Taiwan’s The Role Model For Covid-19 Combat
Singapore isn’t the only country to be lauded for our methods against Covid-19.
Taiwan’s a role model that many countries were scrambling to learn from when the Covid-19 pandemic started appearing in their countries.
As of the time of writing, Taiwan has 329 cases with 5 deaths despite the country only being a bit over 130km from Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus.
You must remember, Taiwan has seen a lot of traffic from Wuhan too.
Their decisive actions, such as getting officials to screen travellers from Wuhan and monitoring people with recent travel history to Wuhan even before any declarations from WHO, helped to keep Covid-19 infections low.
The fact that they’re willing to use public sentiments don’t hurt either, making sure that Taiwanese people follow the measures implemented.
Meanwhile in S’pore
Experts have mentioned that the Singapore government can no longer do much about the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Covid-19 virus has invaded Singapore successfully and we’re now seeing more local transmission cases with no links.
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For import cases, the government can help by implementing measures to stop people from coming in.
But for local cases, it’s now up to Singaporeans ourselves to protect the country.
So make sure to see a doctor immediately if you’re unwell (make sure you wear a mask) and practise safe distancing when in public.
You can do your part as a responsible citizen through helping out in contact tracing by downloading the TraceTogether app.
In the meantime, keep yourself updated by bookmarking MOH’s website here and registering for the Gov.sg’s WhatsApp service here.
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