* Coronavirus infections in 213 countries, territories
* Palau ready to keep borders closed; face economic loss
* Paradise Pacific nation surrounded by outbreaks
* Help from Taiwan, U.S. boosts testing capability
By Martin Petty
April 15 (Reuters) - The Pacific island nation of Palau is
one of the world's last countries still free of the coronavirus,
and it's doing all it can to stay that way.
As the contagion closes in and outbreaks grow in surrounding
nations, President Tommy Remengesau has taken the bold step of
shutting off his tourism-dependent nation, and is ready to keep
it shut until the rest of the world is over the worst.
As he prepares his 20,000 people for economic losses going
into next year, Remengesau says the remote country of 200
pristine islands and reefs knows pre-emptive measures are its
only option.
"It became a question of economics or people's lives," he
told Reuters in a video interview on Wednesday.
"Profits come and go. But you only have one life to live and
that's the basic model we've been following ... That's why, as
of today, no single virus (case) has been detected."
Tourism losses could cost the government 60% of tax revenue,
Remengesau added, but he vowed to keep the borders closed "as
long as necessary".
Located about 1,000 km to 1,500 km (621 miles to 932 miles)
from the nearest outbreaks in neighbours Indonesia, Philippines
and the U.S. territory of Guam, Palau declared a health
emergency about a month ago to ensure a window of readiness.
Although both its suspected cases proved negative, they gave
Remengesau sleepless nights, fearing an outbreak could overwhelm
fragile health services.
The government has delved into reserves to beef up the
services, building in less than a week quarantine facilities, an
isolation unit and a virus laboratory that completed its first
31 locally-administered tests on Tuesday, in a first for any
Pacific nation.
Palau has received technical help from Taiwan, a key
diplomatic ally Remengesau praised for the handling of its own
virus outbreak.
It also bought test kits, ventilators and modern lab
equipment from Taiwan using funds from the United States, which
administered Palau for five decades until 1994.
PUBLIC SUPPORT
The government had to arrange for that equipment to be
brought in on a tuna fishing trawler, after commercial charter
planes said it was too big to carry.
"It took seven days to get here," said Remengesau, 64, who
has won awards for his radical environmental and marine
conservation policies. "Slow is better than nothing at all."
But the testing capability meant the public was more
confident Palau could tackle an outbreak, he said.
Key to that readiness was being able to convince people to
follow strict hygiene and social distancing measures, while
accepting that school closures and business and economic losses
were sacrifices for the greater good, Remengesau said.
"The job gets easier if people respect what needs to be
done, if people respect the value of life," he said, adding that
it was unfortunate developed nations had lost lives because
virus containment measures were not taken seriously.
"If you don't respect yourself, you don't respect your
neighbours, and that's when chaos can ensue."
Palau was now better prepared and considered itself blessed
not to be among the 213 countries and territories gripped by the
virus, Remengesau said.
He added: "We are remote, we are small, and therefore, we
can handle the problem situation. However, it's when that one
virus gets in. It makes it doubly challenging, doubly chaotic,
and we want to continue to avoid that."
On the other hand, the measures had led to cleaner air and
oceans, and the pandemic offered a chance to rethink priorities.
"Maybe we need to do the things that really count," said
Remengesau. "Maybe we know we need to do the things that are
important in life."
(Interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus:
open https://tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7 in an external browser. )
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