Secretariat, Taipei City Government

In this May (2021), the pandemic of COVID-19 became aggravated in Taipei City and the city upgrade the pandemic alert to level 3. The cumulative number of confirmed cases increased from 46 to more than 4000. The control of the pandemic became the common concern of citizens and foreign friends.
 
To provide citizens and foreign residents in Taipei City with the latest pandemic prevention information, Mayor Ko convened press conferences to announce Taipei City Government’s pandemic prevention policies and measures. In addition, Mayor Ko designated Commissioner Chou Tai-Chu of Department of Civil Servant Development as the contact person to publicize the English version of pandemic prevention charts and rapidly provide pandemic prevention and distress relief information to foreign institutes and business associations in Taiwan through various channels such as LINE groups and video conferences. Representatives of different countries expressed their gratitude to Taipei City Government’s efforts through LINE groups, Facebook, or emails.
 
In cooperation with the central government’s regulations regarding vaccine purchase, arrival, and vaccination sequences, Taipei City gradually opened up vaccination among older adults aged 75 years or older after the mid-June. According to the pandemic statistics of Taiwan, the ratio of severe syndrome in older adults aged 60 years or older confirmed as having COVID-19 was 34.1% and deaths of this group of people accounted for 90% of the total deaths caused by COVID-19. To avoid the risk of cluster infection caused by crowding for vaccination, Taipei City in consideration of people’s safety and health established Chinese and English versions of vaccination reservation systems before the implementation of the central government’s vaccination reservation system to separate people flows.
 
Mayor Ko cared for vaccination situations of foreign elders, thus on the morning of June 24, together with Deputy Mayor Tsai Ping-Kun and Commissioner Chou, they visited Taipei Municipal Xinyi Junior High School, which was the vaccination site of Taipei Medical University Hospital. Tents were installed depending on the weather on-site. Smooth traffic of people flow was planned. In addition, the English version of pandemic prevention information along with heartfelt services was provided on-site to foreign people
 
During the visit, Deputy Mayor Tsai and Commissioner Chou encountered Japanese residents in Taiwan. The Taipei City Government officials expressed gratitude for the Japanese government’s donation of COVID-19 vaccines to Taiwan. Elderly people from the Netherlands, Germany, the United States, and Thailand stated their appreciation of Taipei. Although the pandemic is in a tense situation, the people can obtain latest pandemic prevention information through LINE and the Taipei City Government official website. In addition, the vaccination reservation system reduced burden of queuing and solved problems related to safety concerns. These foreign friends extended their gratitude to Taipei City for guarding them with care.