Thread by @che_huai

The rather interesting (and miraculous) story of why #Taiwan acted on COVID-19 so early.

In the early hours of December 31th 2019, Taiwan CDC Dep. Director and other staff spotted a post on #PTT (Taiwan Reddit) talking about SARS-like cases in Wuhan,...

cna.com.tw/news/firstnews…

China. The post included screenshots of fresh public statements by Wuhan health authorities on unknown pneumonia and Wechat group messages among Wuhan medical professionals (including Dr. Li Wenliang's famous words) warning about the situation. Taiwan CDC Dep. Director shared...

...this information to the CDC's internal message group at 5am the same day. Thus started the beginning of Taiwan's rapid response. In the morning, Taiwan CDC sent an email to #China inquiring on the situation. Another email was sent to the @WHO midday. At 6pm the same day...

Taiwan CDC held a press conference on unknown pneumonia cases happening in Wuhan. Onboard checks for flights from Wuhan also started on the same day. Decisive swift actions. Taiwan CDC said China then only replied with a publicly available statement and press release...

...And here is the original PTT post, now flooded with comments by grateful Taiwanese citizens...

ptt.cc/bbs/Gossiping/…

Follow Up: Apparently key info and photos of test reports shared by Dr. Li Wenliang and other Wuhan medical personnel, though scattered on the internet, helped Taiwan CDC staff have a lead on the in-ground situation.

cna.com.tw/news/firstnews…

*on-ground