When Viviane Liang, owner of a small grocery store on the very popular Yong Kang Street, in the heart of the Taiwanese capital, Taipei, contemplates her neighborhood, she is sometimes a little sad.
“Around, there are at least 30 to 40 stores which have closed in the last few months or which have been relocated in the city”, drops the young woman in the middle of her displays of green tea biscuits and candies with seeds. sesame. “Here, it’s a tourist street run by the Japanese, Koreans, Westerners, who haven’t been there for more than two years. Domestic tourism is not enough to help us get back to normal. Taiwan is now seeking to learn to coexist with the coronavirus, as the rest of the world is doing. But it’s still not going fast enough. »
Almost six months after officially changing its approach to the pandemic from the zero COVID policy still largely applied by neighboring China, to embrace a new normal of cohabitation with the virus shared by a large number of Western countries, Taiwan still seems far from having found its point of balance.
“When you arrive at Taoyuan airport in Taipei, you can see it very well”, drops the young politician Vincent Chao, who returned from Washington last July after taking part in a meeting on international security. “It feels like stepping into a scene from the movie. resident Evil which tells of a frightened world seeking protection from a virus that is turning humans into zombies.
“When you get off the plane, you are still awaited by an army of people in protective clothing who send you into closed quarantine for three days, followed by four days of self-monitoring quarantine”, and this, whether the traveler – Taiwanese or foreign – either fully vaccinated or not, adds the candidate for the next municipal elections in Taipei, sitting in front of an iced tea in his campaign office in the Taiwanese capital.
A welcome not conducive to bringing back tourists and other visitors, whose number is still limited by decree to only 40,000 entries per week on the territory of Taiwan.
Caution
The transition announced last March by the government seems to be taking place with the greatest caution. Despite the oppressive and humid summer heat, the wearing of masks is still widespread in the streets of Taipei, including on the faces of the many motorcycle and moped drivers who, however, since July 25, have no longer the obligation to put it. The rule also applies to workers working outside, where the relaxation is a little more visible there.
“Taiwan was the first country to notify the WHO of the existence of this pandemic in January 2020”, analyzes Ying-Hen Hsieh, epidemiologist and public health specialist at China Medical University, met in Taichung, at the center of the island. “We were also the first to implement strict border control at the same time, but we are still one of the last countries to lift restrictions, probably more for political than scientific reasons.”
On the counter, the number of cases of contamination at Omicron, at the origin of an outbreak this spring, has nevertheless been constantly decreasing since its peak on May 27, when around 95,000 daily cases were reported by the Taiwan Centers. for Disease Control (CDC). Just over two months later, the 1er August, there were only 16,600 left, with just 232 coming from outside the country, according to public health authorities.
With a widely vaccinated population – more than 70% of the 23 million Taiwanese have received three doses to date – the mortality rate linked to the disease also remains very low, at 34.4 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants since the beginning of the pandemic, five times less than the rate recorded in Quebec. About 14 million Taiwanese have been exposed to the disease in two and a half years. That’s more than half the population.
Between fear and politics
“It is time to lift the restrictions to return to normal,” drops Tu Yen Ching, a resident of Taichung in his early sixties met on the way to the station. But the CDC seems reluctant to do so because people are still afraid of the disease, especially the elderly. »
The feeling of concern also seems to be amplified in the regions of the island which vote mainly for the more pro-Chinese conservative parties – Taichung is one of them – than for the green camp of the nationalist and independence parties currently in power, and who prefer to believe more to the Chinese doctrine in the face of COVID-19 than to that now adopted by a large number of Western countries.
And of course, this political reality tints the timidity with which the CDC and the Democratic Progressive Party (the Minjindang, as we say here) in power are piloting the transition in progress, on the eve of several electoral deadlines in Taiwan, always crucial on this autonomous and democratic territory claimed in an ever more threatening way by China.
“Our opening has been slower than for the rest of the world and contagion still remains high and still lagging behind other countries. We must therefore remain cautious, said Chuang Jen Hsiang, deputy director general of the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control, in an interview at the institution’s offices in Taipei. If we relax the rules too quickly, the mortality rate could rise, particularly due to an elderly population in which nearly a quarter still refuse [pleine] vaccination. »
Some 80% of those aged 75 and over received a first dose, but around 75% showed up for the second and then the third dose. And this, despite financial incentives aimed at increasing their vaccination coverage and thus allowing the rest of the population to breathe a little.
The fear of the vaccine, just like a spirit of contradiction and contestation which develops over time in this segment of the population, can partly explain this mathematics.
New wave
“We are looking for a way to open the borders and ease the restrictions,” adds the official, assuring that it is science rather than politics that guides the recommendations of the Taiwanese CDC. “But at the same time, we will also have to deal with a new wave, expected towards the end of August or September next, due to the recent appearance on our territory of sub-variants of Omicron BA.4 and BA.5, more contagious. Last May’s outbreak was mainly caused by BA.2.
” It is very frustrating. Both for me, who since May 2020 has been calling for the restrictions to be lifted to learn to live with the virus, and for the majority of the population who comply with the rules without complaining, for cultural reasons,” says Ying-Hen Hsieh. . In Asian countries, generally, the sense of the group always remains more important than the assertion of individuality. “Taiwan is however in a good position to take this new step, because the level of contamination is certainly high, but the severe cases of the disease and the deaths ultimately remain very low. »
He adds: “The main problem is that when you remove a restrictive framework, it becomes more complicated to put back in place at the right time, that is when new outbreaks appear, which is bound to happen several times in the coming years again. »
In his electronics and camera business in Old Taipei, Huang Yung Wie would be ready to live with this reality immediately; it has lost more than 80% of its clientele since the start of the pandemic.
“The government’s new approach and the decline in infections in recent weeks are slowly bringing customers back,” he says. But we are still far from normal. To get there, politicians are good, but you also have to learn to live without fear of the virus. That’s why we got vaccinated, right? But it is still, for many, difficult to understand. »
With Alisa Chih Yun Chen
This report was financed thanks to the support of the Transat International Journalism Fund.The duty.