Taiwan, a nation of 23 million, lies only 81 miles off the coast of China. About 2.71 million visitors fly from the mainland to the island each year.

But while China’s coronavirus death toll stands at more than 3,100, Taiwan has had only 49 confirmed cases and just one death as of Friday. That’s despite early predictions that it would have the second-highest "importation risk" of any country.

So how come the outbreak that erupted in Wuhan, China, and spread around the globe has barely touched China’s neighbor? According to a Stanford Health Policy analysis published this month in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Taiwan learned from the failures of its response to the 2003 SARS outbreak.

Preparing for the next epidemic, the country established a centralized disaster management center to focus on large-outbreak response and to direct communications among central, regional and local authorities.

Taiwan began restricting flights on Dec. 31, when the first news of an unknown virus in Wuhan broke. Within a few weeks, Dr. Jason Wang, a pediatrician and director of the Center for Policy, Outcomes and Prevention at Stanford, started monitoring the government’s responses to the Wuhan outbreak. Wang was scheduled to teach a course in Taipei and wanted to make sure it would be safe to travel there.

Taiwan's Central Epidemic Command Center was activated on Jan. 20, and between then and Feb. 24, it took 124 actions based on assessments gathered from the country’s integration of big data and technology. They included:

Border control from the air and sea, including travel restrictions and cruise ship bans

Case identification (using new data and technology), patients’ 14-day travel history integrated into the National Health Insurance Administration and Immigration Agency database

Quarantine of suspicious cases and electronic monitoring of quarantined individuals via government-issued cell phones

Proactive case finding

Resource allocation (assessing and managing capacity), such as setting up test sites and taking over production of surgical and N95 masks (more than 10 million per day)

Reassurance and education of the public while fighting misinformation; investigated rumors that started a toilet paper panic and prosecuted a man for claiming cyanide wards off coronavirus

Negotiation with other countries and regions

Formulation of policies toward schools and childcare

Relief to businesses

In contrast to Taiwan’s speedy emergency medical mobilization, which undoubtedly limited coronavirus cases and saved lives, countries such as Italy, Iran, France and the United States have been slow to act as the pandemic spreads.

Physicians and other health experts have admitted that the U.S. system for testing for the virus has been a failure.

"Taiwan's ability to contain the #COVID19 outbreak is a tribute to our unity & resilience. It also speaks to the collaboration between our government, people, & the many private businesses that have ramped up production to protect public health & make the impossible possible," President Tsai Ing Wen said in a statement on Twitter.

You can read more about this story here.

Sign up for 'The Daily' newsletter for the latest on coronavirus here.

MORE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE:

---

Mike Moffitt is an SFGATE Digital Reporter. Email: moffitt@sfgate.com. Twitter: @Mike_at_SFGate