Why Taiwan has just 42 coronavirus cases while neighbors report hundreds or thousands

From the article:

Now almost every public building in Taipei offers hand sanitizer and a lot of them, such as schools, require that anyone entering submit to a fever check. Taiwan's Centers for Disease Control announces any new cases every day. In February it began rationing facemask purchases to head off panic buying.

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The government [of Taiwan] first took notice of the virus in December as people in China began talking about it informally. In response, the Centers for Disease Control started onboard quarantine of all direct flights from Wuhan on December 31. The centers said on its website that by January 9 it had “inspected” 14 flights with 1,317 passengers and attendants.

The disease caught the attention of other countries in late January. Although numbers of new cases are dropping in China, Japan and South Korea are grappling with recent outbreaks.

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Taiwan moved fast because of its experience 17 years ago with SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome. That disease originated in China and jumped into other parts of Asia. It killed 73 people in Taiwan.

Officials are looking for ways now to minimize economic impacts of the virus.

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Action against the coronavirus to date has boosted President Tsai Ing-wen’s approval rating to 68.5% in February up from 56.7% in January and on par with what she polled right after taking office in 2016, a Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation poll showed February 24. Local television network TVBS gave the government an 82% approval rating for its handling of the outbreak.