Extraordinary Endeavors in Turbulent Times: Asian Innovation, Inclusion, and Impact during COVID-19

ASIA BUSINESS COUNCIL HONG KONG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 4 2 Fubon Group (Taiwan) Extraordinary Endeavors in Turbulent Times While the IEFS does raise privacy concerns, Lin sees this as a judgement call about the relative weighting assigned to health and privacy within a particular society. In the words of Lin, “Once you have this, you need to choose the right technology to do it; for us, using cell towers to triangulate a person’s position struck the right balance between respecting privacy and promoting public health. In contrast to Hong Kong’s tracking bracelets, the IEFS system allows for greater privacy as it does not collect data on people’s exact locations. Moreover, relative to both Hong Kong and mainland China, Taiwan’s solution is actually much cheaper. We will not be adopting any bracelet-based solution in the foreseeable future, as many Taiwanese people would feel that it is too much.” Containing a Possible Outbreak from the Diamond Princess Cruise Ship One of the major accomplishments of the IEFS was the containment of a major crisis involving the Diamond Princess cruise ship. On February 5, 2020, an outbreak of COVID-19 was reported on the Diamond Princess, which had docked at Keelung harbor on January 31, so that passengers could have a one-day excursion in Taiwan. 7 In order to trace the potential exposure to the virus, Taiwan authorities sought the help of the five local telecom carriers, including Taiwan Mobile. After identifying the mobile phone numbers of the passengers, it was possible to find the rough locations of the phones and the phones’ users. 8 With the help of the local government, it was found that 34 percent of the passengers took shuttle buses for local tours, 5.2 percent took taxis, and the rest biked or stayed near the harbor area. 9 The Taiwan authorities then proceeded to identify individuals in Taiwan who had stayed more than 5 minutes and within 500 meters of the locations that the passengers of the Diamond Princess had travelled to. 10 These individuals who were at risk were advised to self-quarantine at home, monitor their health, and refrain from public gatherings. 11 Similarly, in another incident, 36 navy sailors who had returned to Taiwan after an overseas mission were found to have been infected with COVID-19. 12 Again, the IEFS was used to track the travel routes of the sailors, who had visited family and friends in multiple cities. 13 Warning messages were sent to individuals who had potentially been in contact with them, and a community outbreak was prevented. Lin opined, “...In a small place like Taiwan, it is impossible for five carriers to build five separate sets of infrastructures, so half of our infrastructure is actually shared. The companies worked very closely with the government and I am proud of how our firm and the industry as a whole contributed to the containment effort.”