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.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS