The government’s policy of home care for patients with mild and asymptomatic COVID-19 infections has proven successful in Taiwan’s efforts to effectively allocate its health resources, the Taiwan Medical Association (TMA) said Sunday.
When the policy was first implemented in late April, the overall hospital admission rate of confirmed COVID-19 patients in Taiwan was over 3 percent, but that has now dropped to 1 percent, the TMA said in a statement.
As a result, the resources in the country’s health care systems have been freed up for the critically ill, the association said.
The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) introduced the policy after the daily number of COVID-19 cases in Taiwan rose past 1,500 on April 19.
Local governments then activated their home isolation schemes, in accordance with the CECC’s guidelines for home care management of confirmed mild and asymptomatic COVID-19 cases.
Meanwhile, those with moderate or severe symptoms were being admitted to hospital, while COVID-19 patients deemed as highly likely to develop severe infections and those unable to take care of themselves were being sent to special quarantine hotels.
On Sunday, CECC spokesperson Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said at a press briefing that those measures allow people with mild and asymptomatic COVID-19 infections to receive medical care at home, thus reducing the risk of spreading the virus in communities.
That is why Taiwan has the fourth lowest COVID-19 excess mortality rate worldwide — an evaluation of the efficacy of disease control — and the fourth lowest cumulative confirmed COVID-19 death rate on the list of countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCED), Chuang said, citing a report in the Economist.
The medical home care of confirmed COVID-19 cases includes remote consultations with doctors, remote prescription of medicines, and home delivery of the drugs, Chuang said.
“In the absence of such services, the number of deaths could have been much higher during the latest wave of COVID-19 infections (in Taiwan),” he said.
Chuang made the comments after the effectiveness of the policy, which cost the government NT$11.1 billion (US356.43 million), was questioned recently.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel