Richard Foster, who is originally from the Derrylin area, has been living in Taiwan for the last 28 years.

For the last eight years, Richard has been running a travel business focused on bringing foreign tourists to see Taiwan’s wildlife - especially the birds, but this has been greatly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking to The Impartial Reporter, Richard said: “How has it affected me - er unemployed essentially as Taiwan is not allowing any visitors in. Citizens and residents can return, but must go into strict (but very well supported) quarantine for two weeks.”

Aside from the detrimental effect the pandemic has had on his business, Richard is also concerned for his family back at home in Fermanagh: “I’m frustrated it is not at all convenient to pop home to Fermanagh to see family and I’m concerned about the health (physical and mental) of family and friends in Fermanagh and around the world. I’m disappointed that we, my wife and two daughters, may not be able to be home in Fermanagh this summer for big family events - and to escape the heat here.” He added that he is also concerned that it could interfere with his eldest daughter’s university entrance interviews.

When asked how Taiwan has been dealing with the coronavirus outbreak and how the country has been impacted compared to the UK/Ireland, Richard said: “The UK/Ireland and Taiwan are now in very different positions.”

“We acted early and may have stopped it spreading. A densely-populated country of 23 million, dealing with it since the start of January, we only have had five deaths, most of our 380 cases are ‘imported’. Life is almost as normal here (schools, shops etc open), but we wear surgical masks where social distancing is not possible. Alcohol hand sanitizer everywhere,” he added.

Richard explained that as Taiwan had experienced a SARS outbreak in the early 2000s, the country was ready to “react to this sort of virus immediately”.

He said: “There was a culture of wearing masks for many reasons - including if having any cold symptoms, or feeling vulnerable. Maybe five per cent of the population were wearing them at any time. Also I’ve almost never seen a doctor or nurse not wear one. Airports always remotely monitored the temperatures of arriving passengers.”

“Because of our ‘very difficult’ relationship with China we distrusted any information coming from them. We had lots of flights coming from nearby China, including Wuhan, and started testing passengers from there in January, then stopping flights. There has been rigorous tracing of every case, people connected go into strict quarantine then self-monitor their health. No stigma. Good healthcare. We are a vibrant democracy, there hasn’t been need for draconian lockdowns etc,” shared Richard, before adding: “We still worry about a big outbreak that could put us into a position like the rest of the world.”

Commenting on the issues regarding provision of PPE that the UK/Ireland are facing, Richard said: “Home care workers not having PPE is staggering to the Taiwanese. For many years anyone doing these jobs would have had plenty of gear - always masks. Plus people like bus drivers, refuse collectors. In February the government put extra measures in place to ensure stable supply of PPE.”

“A common question recently from Taiwanese friends looking at the situation in the UK/Ireland is, ‘why didn’t you wear masks?’” Richard told this newspaper.

 

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