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Strategic Vision vol. 9, no. 45 (March, 2020)
Strengthening Authority Dedicated biodefense unit called for to safeguard public health in Taiwan Lipin Tien
photo: ROC Presidential Office
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President Tsai meets with members of the ROC Army’s 33 Chemical Corps Epidemic Prevention unit.
n late 2019, a new coronavirus emerged in Wuhan, a large Chinese city, which posed a serious threat to human health. Cases of this disease, now known as COVID-19, have since spread rapidly and have been reported across China and in many other countries around the globe. On 30 January, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the virus a public health emergency of international concern and raised its risk assessment of the coronavirus in terms of spread and in terms of impact to the highest level on 28 February. At the time of writing, more than 93,000 cases across at least 77 countries have been confirmed, including 3,198
deaths. Stock markets around the globe have tumbled and the price of petroleum has dropped precipitously as global demand weakens due to travel restrictions. The threat to human security and safety from contagious diseases is not new; the 1918 Spanish Flu and the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak are prime examples. An epidemic can turn into a pandemic very quickly. Once it comes into being, an epidemic from an infectious disease poses a serious containment problem for any society or government. Diseases do not respect borders, in the age of global community, the spread of COVID-19 or any other virus is just a flight away. Therefore, pandemic diseases pose one of the
Dr. Lipin Tien is a professor at the ROC National Defense University. He can be reached for comment at rocjag@gmail.com