GOODWILL GESTURE: As domestic mask production has stabilized, people can donate their share of masks to other nations in four easy steps using the NHIA app

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 28, 2020
By: Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported no new cases of COVID-19 in the nation as it announced a way for people to donate their share of requisitioned masks to other countries through the National Health Insurance Administration’s (NHIA) mobile app (全民健保行動快易通).

As domestic mask production has stabilized and there are sufficient good-quality masks, the center has launched a mechanism for people to donate their masks based on the spirit of international mutual assistance, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center.

He said that people can easily donate their share of masks — nine adult masks per 14 days or 10 children’s masks per 14 days — in four steps: Log in to the NHIA’s mobile app, click on My Health Bank (健康存摺), click “respond to humanitarian aid” (響應人道援助) and click “yes” (我願意).

They can choose to leave a name or remain anonymous, he said.    [FULL  STORY]

South China Morning Post
Date: 26 Apr, 2020
By: Antonia Timmerman

While Taiwan has avoided a huge outbreak, activists doubt the government’s readiness to protect migrant workers, some of whom live in dorms of 30 people a room

Aside from the coronavirus, packed dorms located within factory grounds leave workers at risk of fire hazards

As Singapore sees a surge in coronavirus infections among its low-wage migrant worker community, questions have been raised about the living conditions of other workers doing jobs shunned by residents in developed Asian societies.

In Taiwan, there are more than 718,000 blue-collar migrant workers. The highest number – nearly 280,000, or about 40 per cent of the migrant worker community – comes from Indonesia, followed by Vietnam (221,400), the Philippines (158,700) and Thailand (58,700). They mostly work in the manufacturing and caregiving sectors, as well as agriculture, forestry and fishing.    [FULL  STORY]

Global Times
Date: 2020/4/26
By: Chen Xi

The news that the siblings of Sao Mao, a late influential writer from the island of Taiwan, filed a lawsuit against cultural variety show Letter Alive for infringing on San Mao's copyrights and modifying said content without permission went viral on Chinese social media on Sunday, World Intellectual Property Day.

According to reports, the Beijing Internet Court tried the infringement case online on Friday, during which it livestreamed the trial. The court did not pronounce a judgment in court.

The dispute focused on a letter that San Mao's father once wrote to the writer, a portion of which was read on an episode of the show's second season. The attorney for San Mao's siblings stated that the show had changed the name of the letter, altered a large portion of the text and broadcast the content of the letter on the show without permission from the rights holder. The plaintiff demanded compensation of 110,000 yuan ($15,533).

However, the defendants said they did not recognize Sao Mao's siblings as the owners of the letter in question and believe that their actions fall within fair use in copyright law. They also said that the compensation is too high, Beijing News Daily reported on Sunday.     [FULL  STORY]

Existing traffic app outfitted with novel function to help people avoid big crowds

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/04/26
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) —Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) on Sunday (April 26) took to Facebook to urge the public to download an app, Freeway 1968 (高速公路1968), indicating real-time highway conditions and crowd warnings, CNA reported.

As the May 1 holiday weekend approaches, Central Epidemic Command Center chief Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said that the holiday will be comparatively safe in terms of public health, as Taiwan reported no confirmed domestic COVID-19 cases for the 14th consecutive time on Sunday.

Lin said that his ministry and the CECC have worked together to add a new infection prevention information item (防疫資訊) to the original traffic app in order to provide the public with data on crowd levels at 234 tourists attractions across Taiwan.

Lin added that the information on crowd conditions has been made possible via the bulk data of Chungwha Telecom, which will be updating the app every ten minutes.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 04/26/2020
By: Liang Pai-chi, Huang Li-yun and Kay Liu

Taipei, April 26 (CNA) Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) ordered the suspension of a KTV parlor and instructed utmost efforts to treat the injured after inspecting the scene of a deadly fire Sunday.

There is no need to jump to any conclusions about how the fire started, but it is important to suspend the Cashbox KTV Linsen outlet's operations in an eight-floor building, in order to preserve the evidence, said Ko, who also visited those injured who were taken to the nearby MacKay Memorial Hospital.

According to the Taipei City Fire Department's initial investigation, the fire, which has caused five deaths, started on the fifth floor of the building.

As of press time, 50 people were in several hospitals being treated, two of whom were in critical condition.    [FULL  STORY]

‘REMAIN VIGILANT’: People who are planning to travel during the Worker’s Day holiday must still follow disease prevention measures, the minister of health said

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 27, 2020
By: Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported no new COVID-19 infections, marking the 14th consecutive day that no domestic cases had been reported in Taiwan.

The nation has 429 confirmed cases — out of 60,459 suspected cases — including six deaths and 281 who were removed from isolation after treatment, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center.

Of the confirmed cases, 343 are imported, 55 are domestic and 31 are crew members of the navy supply vessel Panshih (磐石), he said.

“People who are planning to travel during the upcoming Workers’ Day long weekend still have to practice social distancing, wear a mask, and maintain good personal and environmental hygiene,” Chen said. “These measures are still very important.”    [FULL  STORY]

New York Post
Date: April 25, 2020
By: James B. Meigs

After every disaster, we search for the bad decisions and missed warnings that allowed it to happen. We remember how Captain E. J. Smith of the Titanic disregarded telegram alerts about icebergs ahead, or that NASA leaders chose to launch the space shuttle Challenger despite warnings that the craft’s booster rockets might malfunction.

Most major disasters arouse some sense of outrage, and the COVID-19 pandemic is no exception. Looking back on how the crisis unfolded, we find mistakes not just regrettable but stunning, unforgivable — some would say even criminal. The decisions that enable disaster strike us as worse than incompetence — made by people who must have known they were risking the lives of others.

But the more closely we examine most disasters, the less clear-cut these explanations become. Sociologist Diane Vaughan spent years studying how NASA officials decided to launch the space shuttle on January 28, 1986. (Engineers had warned — accurately, it turned out — that the cold weather that day might cause the craft’s booster rockets to leak dangerous jets of flame.) Vaughan concluded that, far from being knowingly reckless, the officials had actually followed the agency’s safety protocols quite closely.    [FULL  STORY]

The Philippine government wants Taiwan to deport a Filipina caregiver for her ‘nasty and malevolent’ posts about the President

Rappler
Date: April 25, 2020
By: JC Gotinga

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said it is working to have a Filipina caregiver deported from Taiwan for her alleged attempts to “discredit and malign” President Rodrigo Duterte and “destabilize the government.”

“We are constrained to act for the deportation of a Filipina working as [a] caregiver in Taiwan for the crime of cyber libel for [her] wilful posting of nasty and malevolent materials against President Duterte on Facebook, intended to cause hatred amidst the global health crisis brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Labor Attaché Fidel Macauyag in a statement on Saturday, April 25.

The DOLE identified the worker as Elanel Egot Ordidor, employed on Yunlin County, Taiwan.

Representatives from the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Taichung met with Ordidor at her workplace on Monday, April 20, “to enlighten her that her actions amounted to a crime for which she might be prosecuted both in Taiwan and the Philippines,” Macauyag said.   [FULL  STORY]

S. Taiwan university hosts online conference discussing post-pandemic education and drug R&D, over 150 professionals attend

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/04/25
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) on Tuesday (April 21) held a 12-hour-long online meeting attended by over 150 university presidents, scholars, experts, and medical professionals from over 10 countries, to discuss the impact of Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) on higher education and how people can minimize impacts from a future plague with new drug R&D processes.

The various stay-at-home orders implemented around the world have resulted in tens of millions of people working from home and using video-conferencing tools to communicate and exchange ideas, fostering a new higher education landscape. As the coronavirus pandemic is still wreaking havoc around the world, NCKU scrambled to host an online international summit of academics and professionals to brainstorm a new solution in fighting a pandemic as well as advancing remote learning.

NCKU President Dr. Huey-Jen Su (蘇慧貞) stated in her opening remarks that in the war against COVID-19, world leaders have incorporated various disciplines including data science, technology, medicine, and management. Of these forward-thinking leaders, Taiwan's president stands out the most with her effective resource integration from various ministries and sectors, Su explained.

"NCKU has been committed to its social responsibility and today we are inviting our global partners to discuss over key world issues in hopes of collecting good ideas and developing new solutions," she said.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 04/25/2020
By: Emerson Lim and Miao Chung-han

Taipei, April 25 (CNA) Causeway Bay Books, a bookstore originally based in Hong Kong selling books critical of Beijing and Chinese political leadership reopened in Taiwan Saturday, 20 months after it was closed due to political persecution.

The bookstore, situated on the 10th floor of a commercial building near Taipei's MRT Zhongshan Station, has an area of only 66 square meters but with a wide range of book selections, from coloring books for children to volumes tackling politics, some of which are forbidden in China.

It sells books on Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement in 2019 and on the situation in Tibet.

Lam Wing-kee (林榮基), the founder of Causeway Bay Books in Hong Kong, thanked Taiwan's government and the Taiwanese people for helping him to resurrect the store.    [FULL  STORY]