Taiwan has embraced cuddly mascots and humor to ease public anxiety and educate on best practices amid concern over COVID-19.
Images of cute animals have featured in daily social media updates from government agencies to tackle disinformation and prevent the spread of infections.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare has deployed a cartoon “spokesdog” — a shiba inu called Zongchai (總柴) — that has proved a hit, with hashtags of his name going viral and posts shared hundreds of thousands of times.
Photo: Screen grab from Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Facebook page
Recent contributions have included advice on hygiene and quarantine regulations, as well as reminding people to use masks judiciously given the ongoing shortages since the virus emerged in China.
“Leave face masks for the people who need them, frequently wash your hands with soap, reduce touching your eyes, nose and mouth with your hands,” read one update.
In a Valentine’s Day message, Zongchai offered practical advice for dating during an outbreak, from regular hand washing to staying sober and safe sex.
The post ended with a question: “What if I am single?” to which the pup quipped: “Stay home then.”
The ministry has rolled out a pigeon in a facemask to announce entry restrictions on foreigners with recent travel history to China, adopting the slogan “Virus out, safety in.”
The Ministry of Economic Affairs plumped for a goose when it announced that rumors of disposable paper meal boxes running out were “so quacking exaggerated.”
The message deployed a homophone where the word for the noise a goose makes sounds similar to the first character for the word “exaggerated” in Mandarin.
The government has been deft at deploying memes to win public support.
For instance, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) took to his social media accounts in cartoon form to warn against panic-buying toilet paper.
“We only have one butt, don’t hoard, don’t trust rumors,” the post read.
Once again, a clever homophone was deployed. In Mandarin, the first characters for “hoard” and “butt” are pronounced the same.
The approach contrasts with China, where authorities have tapped their well-oiled propaganda powers to wage a “people’s war” against a virus, which has killed nearly 1,800 people.
State media has heralded the importance of patriotism to tackle the outbreak in a campaign reminiscent of Mao Zedong’s (毛澤東) cries to mobilize the masses.
“To visit each other is to kill each other,” read one slogan in a quarantined district in Hubei Province, the epicenter of the outbreak. “To get together is to commit suicide.”
Taiwan moved swiftly against the outbreak, quickly restricting and then banning arrivals from China.
The nation on Sunday recorded its first death. It has kept confirmed infections to just 22 as of yesterday.
There was brief panic buying of masks before authorities limited each person to just two every seven days using National Health Insurance cards.
Taiwan has also restricted the number of masks a person can take abroad to 250.
Last week, the coast guard stopped a fishing boat that was allegedly attempting to smuggle out 71,000 masks.
SELF-RELIANCE: Taiwan would struggle to receive aid in the event of an invasion, so it must prepare to ‘hold its own’ for the first 70 days of a war, a defense expert said Taiwan should strengthen infrastructure, stock up on reserves and step up efforts to encourage Taiwanese to fight against an enemy, legislators and experts said on Tuesday last week. The comments sought to summarize what the nation should learn from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has exceeded 300 days, since Feb. 24 last year. Institute of National Defense and Security Research fellow Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said that the war in Ukraine highlighted the importance of being ready for war. Taiwan’s development of an “asymmetrical warfare” doctrine and extending mandatory conscription to one year is a good start to preparation of defense against a
 - Copy.jpg)
The Tourism Bureau plans to offer incentives to attract international tourists as the nation plans to gradually lift all travel restrictions to contain COVID-19, Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said yesterday. The incentives would be funded by surplus national tax revenue from last year, Wang said. The funding could be appropriated after the legislature passes draft special statutes governing the use of the surplus tax revenue in the upcoming legislative session, he said. Of the NT$450 billion (US$14.97 billion) in surplus tax revenue, the government plans to spend NT$100 billion on seven categories of projects to bolster Taiwan’s
The Central Epidemic Command Center yesterday said it would delay the lifting of the indoor mask mandate, citing public health considerations and ongoing discussions on how the policy should be implemented. Earlier this week, Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesman, said officials from several ministries were working on the policy and an announcement would be made yesterday. However, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the CECC, yesterday said that the policy was still under review. Wang said its implementation would be “delayed slightly” due to three main factors. First, the center
Retired US admiral Philip Davidson, who in 2021 warned of a potential Chinese conflict with Taiwan by 2027, is in Taiwan to discuss regional security-related issues. He was the head of the US Indo-Pacific Command at the time. Davidson is part of a six-member delegation from US-based think tank the National Bureau of Asian Research that arrived in Taiwan on Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. The group is scheduled to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), and visit two government-funded non-governmental organizations — the Institute for National Defense and Security Research and Taiwan Foundation for Democracy — to exchange
RSS