The title "catching it early" suggested to me that the article would be about macro solutions for societies to "catch it early".
For instance sewage detection: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-31/coronavir...
Taiwan's success attributed almost entirely to their taking a far more aggressive approach to isolation than WHO was recommending (also notable, Taiwan is not part of WHO due to China's efforts to keep them out).
Taiwan isn't part of the WHO because the WHO is part of the UN and broadly speaking, member states of the UN -- the United States included -- don't officially recognize Taiwan.
As an aside, the US relationship with Taiwan is entirely unofficial. The US political stance follows the One China policy and recognizes Beijing as the capital of a China inclusive of both what is colloquially the PRC and the ROC.
For what it's worth, it's likely due to the close (if challenging) relationship the PRC and ROC enjoy that Taiwan was able to get a head start on containment.
That's false on multiple counts. The official US policy only acknowledges China's position and does not recognize China as having sovereignty over Taiwan. This has been clarified publicly on numerous occasions since the early 1980s.
The Taiwan Travel Act further upgraded US-Taiwan relations and made them official. That's why China was so upset by it - publicly stating that it violated their One-China principle - and why the Taiwanese President was able to freely travel to the US afterward.
A travel ban to China and Hong Kong was certainly far less of a political issue in Taiwan than it was in the US or Canada for instance.
> Taiwan is not part of WHO due to China's efforts to keep them out
Taiwan was previously an observer at the WHA, under a similar agreement as used to take part in the Olympics and other international organizations. They used the name "Chinese Taipei." That agreement broke down when Taiwanese nationalists came to power (as opposed to the Chinese nationalists in Taiwan).
Thanks for the details on Taiwan vis a vis the WHO.
From very early on, the WHO recommended patient isolation as a precaution against possible human-to-human transmission.
The WHO is required by the international treaty that governs it to advise against travel restrictions, unless there is strong evidence that they will be effective. Since the research prior to this pandemic has tended to show that travel restrictions are ineffective for highly contagious respiratory viruses, the WHO advises against travel restrictions. Most people don't understand this, which makes the WHO an easy target for criticism. If countries want the WHO to recommend travel restrictions, they should amend the International Health Regulations.
The WHO did, however, recommend extensive testing, which worked well for South Korea (without travel bans, I think).
Right, this is exactly what various sources are attributing Taiwan's success to, since they were not part of WHO, they were able to implement stronger travel restrictions, earlier.
I'm skeptical that the travel restrictions are what set Taiwan apart. Cases always leak through, and they did in Taiwan as well. The important thing is making sure the virus doesn't spread once it's in the country, which requires things like testing and symptom screening.