WUHAN VIRUS/Taiwan to extend suspension of tours to China until end of April

Focus Taiwan
Date: 02/10/2020
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, Feb. 10 (CNA) The suspension of all Taiwanese tours to China or tours transiting through

China to another destination will be extended to the end of April as the number of coronavirus cases there continues to surge, the Tourism Bureau said Monday.

In addition, the suspension of all tours to Hong Kong and Macau will be extended to March 31, including those transiting through the two special administrative regions, the bureau said.

The bureau first issued a notice to Taiwanese tour operators on Jan. 24 ordering the suspension of all tours to China, to take effect the following day and lasting until Jan. 31.

On Jan. 30, the bureau extended the suspension to the end of February, and also applied it to tours that included a transit stop in China.    [FULL  STORY]

CECC: Exceptions will be made for certain categories of people, the health minister said. A second person who had the virus could be released from hospital this week

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 11, 2020
By: Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter

Starting today, visitors and students from Hong Kong and Macau are banned from entering

Taiwan, with a few exceptions, as part of the government’s temporary measures aimed at preventing the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

The outbreak in China’s Guangdong Province is still serious, with more than 1,000 confirmed cases, and “there is very frequent and high cross-border mobility between Guangdong and Hong Kong or Macau,” Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said at the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) in Taipei.

“Although we have already announced that passengers from or those who have transited in Hong Kong or Macau must be put under home quarantine for 14 days, we want to enhance disease prevention at the border,” he said.

Exceptions would be made for people with business contracts to fulfill, multinational corporation employees who are being transferred, and the spouses or children under the age of 18 of Taiwanese who have already obtained an Alien Resident Certificate, he said.
[FULL  STORY]

Taipei and Beijing could both extend olive branches in the name of a public health emergency that would otherwise be politically infeasible.

The5 Diplomat
Date: February 07, 2020
By: Jo Kim0   

The novel coronavirus outbreak that began in Wuhan couldn’t have come at a worse time for

China’s Xi Jinping: 2020, the year in which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has pledged to redeem the centennial goal of achieving a “moderately prosperous society.” Yet, as businesses struggle and crooked government institutions get exposed, China’s social stability and economy are taking a hard hit. The World Health Organization has declared the disease a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern,” and coordinated international response to the public health crisis is now more critical than ever.

Meanwhile, Taiwan’s President Tsai-Ing Wen has depicted the island as the “forefront of global epidemic prevention.” While epidemics have frequented Taiwan, it is restricted from joining the WHO due to China’s claims over the island. As the staggering death tolls and economic damage continue to increase in China, public health may incentivize the two sides to break the current impasse.

For China, the pan-green Democratic Progressive Party’s re-election in January has instilled fear of Taiwan trending toward independence. China’s State Council Taiwan Affairs Office said that any attempt to use the novel coronavirus to plot “Taiwan independence” is doomed to fail. Despite the political risks, China would have much to gain by dropping its incorrigibly obstinate political principles and permitting Taiwan’s accession in the WHO.

Given the number of Taiwanese visitors (over 700,000 in 2019) and China’s current “31 measures” to encourage Taiwanese to settle in China, Taiwan’s public health condition has grown increasingly consequential to China. Taiwan’s access to global public health cooperation should thus help prevent future pandemics in the region. As the new coronavirus continues to rampage within China, hardliners in Beijing should be more accepting of extending an olive branch to Taiwan to prevent future pandemics from crippling China’s already slowing economy and social stability – the foundations of the Chinese government’s legitimacy.
[FULL  STORY]

Reuters
Date: February 9, 2020
By: Ben Blanchard

TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan’s air force scrambled armed fighters on Sunday to intercept Chinese jets that flew around the island claimed by Beijing as its own, in a move denounced by Taiwan’s Defence Ministry as a threat to regional peace and stability.

China has been flying what it calls “island encirclement” drills on-off since 2016 when Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen first took office.

Beijing believes Tsai, who won re-election last month, wishes to push the island’s formal independence. She says Taiwan is an independent country called the Republic of China, its official name.

In a statement, Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said Chinese J-11 fighters and H-6 bombers flew into the Bashi Channel to the south of Taiwan, then out into the Pacific before heading back to base via the Miyako Strait, located between Japan’s islands of Miyako and Okinawa, to the northeast of Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

Japan Foward
Date: February 10, 2020
By: Akio Yaita, Sankei Shimbun 

Akio Yaita, bully, china, China exploits disasters, China's tyranny, Chinese economic aid, Chinese fund Ethiopia, Chinese Red Cross, coronavirus, Ethiopa, exclude Taiwan, excluding Taiwan, Hubei, novel coronavirus, supervirus, Taipei, taiwan, Taiwan earthquake of 1999, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Tsai Ing-wen, virus information sharing, WHO, World Health Organization, Wuhan, Xi Jinping    [FULL  STORY]

 

Panic buying of toilet paper starts over rumors that raw supplies are being exhausted to make face masks

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/02/10
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — In response to rumors that toilet paper supplies were running low because they were being used to make face masks, the government on Friday (Feb. 7) said that the materials used in the two products are different and supplies of toilet paper are abundant.

Due to fears about the outbreak of the Wuhan virus in Taiwan, the past few weeks have seen a mad run on face masks, but supplies heavily depleted and rationing implemented. Rumors started to spread on social media last week that the panic buying of face masks had exhausted the raw materials for toilet paper, diapers, and sanitary wipes as well, threatening to repeat the frenzy over the Great Toilet Paper Panic of 2018.

However, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) on its Facebook page on Friday said that the materials used to produce surgical face masks are different from those used to make toilet paper. It said that masks are made from non-woven fabric, while more than 70 percent of toilet paper is made from staple fiber pulp.

As to rumors that imports of toilet paper were becoming scarce because of the Wuhan virus outbreak in China, the MOEA said that Taiwan does not import toilet paper or the raw materials to make it from Communist China. The MOEA said that most of the pulp to make toilet paper comes from Chile and Brazil, and international pulp supplies have increased recently, while prices have gone down.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: Feb. 9, 2020
By: Chang Ming-hsuan and Evelyn Kao

Health Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center, reports Taiwan's first asymptomatic coronavirus infection at a press briefing on Sunday.

Taipei, Feb. 9 (CNA) Taiwan has reported one more case of infection by the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), involving the country's first asymptomatic patient, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 18.

The latest case is that of a man in his 20s, another son of a couple who were diagnosed with 2019-nCoV Thursday after the family transited through Hong Kong Feb. 1 after visiting Italy, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said Sunday.

The couple's older son, also in his 20s, tested positive Saturday for coronavirus after developing a cough Jan. 27 in Italy, while his parents started to show symptoms Jan. 26 and Jan. 28, respectively.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 10, 2020
By: Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter

The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported the nation’s 18th confirmed

case of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), which is also Taiwan’s first asymptomatic case: a man in his 20s who traveled to Italy with his parents and brother, with all four transiting through Hong Kong on Feb. 1.

The parents on Thursday were confirmed to have the virus, and their other son’s infection was confirmed on Saturday, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), the center’s head.

“Although the new case had not suffered any clear symptoms … we asked him to be tested and the result was positive,” he said.

The man has a high viral load, but it is not yet clear whether he is infectious, the CECC said.
    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan Internatinal
Date: 07 February, 2020
By: Shirley Lin

President Tsai Ing-wen has instructed the Tourism Bureau to implement measures to boost tourism amid a coronavirus outbreak that has led to many cancellations.

Tsai was speaking Friday at a Tourism Bureau event honoring businesses in the tourism sector for their hard work in the past year.

Tsai said that in recent years, Taiwan has not only seen the number of overseas visitors reach record highs, but has also managed to attract tourists from a record number of countries.

However, Tsai noted the impact of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak on tourism. She said that during the outbreak, travel agencies have been working to bring Taiwanese nationals home safely. She said that the Tourism Bureau must help the tourism industry by putting measures to boost tourism into place soon.    [FULL  STORY]

Los Angeles Times
Date: Feb. 7, 2020
By: Cindy Chang, Shashank Bengall,; Victoria Kim

In the prosperous capitals of Asia, money could buy anything — until a mysterious coronavirus hit, striking fear in rich and poor alike.

Now, surgical masks are nearly impossible to find on store shelves from Taipei to Hong Kong to Manila, prompting a panic reminiscent of wartime scarcity, with long lines and reports of hoarding, price gouging and fake products.

People have turned to social media to share creative solutions. How about a mask made of a maxi pad? Half an orange? A water bottle? Bad advice abounds. Note to self: Steaming masks to disinfect them does not work.

Some governments have organized mask lotteries. Others are rationing masks. Political leaders tour mask factories, seeking to reassure citizens that manufacturing is being ramped up. On an increasingly interconnected continent, every major Asian city has extensive business and tourism ties with China, where the deadly outbreak originated.

At their simplest, the masks are a thin, pleated layer of gauze — a few millimeters of protection from the world. Other versions, like the N95 used by healthcare workers, contain advanced carbon filters. Most people are just glad to have a mask in standard white, blue, green or black, but plaid, camouflage, heart and cartoon animal versions are also seen on the streets.
[FULL  STORY]]