Radio Taiwan International
Date: 04 February, 2020
By: Paula Chao

A temple in the central county of Nantou has boosted blood donations by offering donors lucky coins, a symbol of prosperity.

Inside a blood donation vehicle, nurses are busy drawing blood. Outside, more people line up, waiting for their turn.

As health precautions following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in China, one nurse says donors must have their hands disinfected and temperatures taken first.

Given the outbreak and the cold weather, few people go out, let alone donate blood. So why are they so enthusiastic about it?    [FULL  STORY]

Safety At Sea
Date: February 4, 2020
By: Martina Li, correspondent

Taiwanese authorities asked one of Genting Cruises’ ships to leave Kaohsiung port ahead of schedule after it transpired that the vessel had previously carried three persons who became infected with the novel coronavirus.

Genting Cruises’ World Dream, carrying more than 3,000 passengers and crew members, had arrived in Kaohsiung at 1 pm local time on 4 February 2020 and was scheduled to depart for Hong Kong at 9 pm the same day. However, the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control requested the ship depart by 3:30 pm, more than five hours ahead of schedule.

None of the passengers and crew were allowed to disembark.

In January, World Dream had carried three passengers on a cruise from China to Vietnam and after returning to China, the trio were diagnosed with the novel coronavirus.   [FULL  STORY]

Travel history of people returning from China, Hong Kong, Macau will be made known to physicians

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/02/04
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — To prevent people from hiding their travel history when visiting the doctor and thus exploiting a loophole in the war on the Wuhan coronavirus epidemic, Taiwanese health authorities announced on Tuesday (Feb. 4) a new feature soon to be added to National Health Insurance (NHI) smart cards.

The ID cards currently contain users' medical data, allowing doctors to access health records, and users can enjoy affordable medical service as the country's National Health Insurance Administration reimburses their expenses when they present their cards at the billing counter.

However, the cards present no information about their users' travel history.

After the new feature hits the road, around 330,000 Taiwanese who have recently traveled to or returned from China, Hong Kong, and Macau will be made known to physicians, the administration said.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 02/04/2020
By: Chen Wei-ting and Matthew Mazzetta

Taipei, Feb. 4 (CNA) Seasonal flu was last week confirmed as the cause of five recent deaths, bringing the total for the current flu season to 61, Taiwan's Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said Tuesday.

According to CDC statistics, from Jan. 26 to Feb. 1, a total of 102,013 people sought medical treatment for flu-like symptoms at hospitals and clinics around the country, representing a 13.5 percent decrease from the previous week.

At a press conference, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said most of the five newly-confirmed flu deaths involved people who fell ill during December, and involved four cases of the H1N1 strain, commonly known as swine flu, and one case of the H3N2 strain of the virus.

The deceased were aged 51-90, suffered from chronic illnesses and had not been vaccinated against the virus, Lin said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan Internatinal
Date: 03 February, 2020
By: Leslie Liao

Taiwan’s National Palace Museum is home to one of the largest collections of ancient Chinese art. Centuries-old works may be difficult for modern viewers to understand, but museum employees are working hard to bridge the gap of time.

This work of art is called Along the River During the Qingming Festival. It’s an impressive work of art that’s over five meters long. It’s a wildly detailed painting that depicts daily life during the Song Dynasty.

Experts say this painting is close to 900 years old. It might be hard to imagine society back then, but with a little bit of creativity, museum employees have made this painting a little more relatable. Parts of the painting have been captioned and given a more modern context.   [FULL  STORY]

The Straits Times
Date: January 4, 2020

TAIPEI • Taiwan's Vice-President-elect William Lai will go to this week's high-profile National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, he said yesterday, an event traditionally attended by US presidents and which President Donald Trump was at last year.

Mr Lai, who assumes office in May, has angered China by saying he is a "realistic worker for Taiwan independence", a red line for Beijing which considers the island merely a Chinese province with no right to state-to-state relations.

Taiwan says it is an independent country called the Republic of China, its official name.

Mr Lai wrote on his Facebook page that he was going to the event in an individual capacity.
[FULL  STORY]

Netizens go into frenzy over Taiwan flags as ultimate solution to face mask shortage

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/02/03
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer\

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwanese, Japanese, and Western netizens have gone into a frenzy over a meme showing images of face masks with Taiwan flags as the ultimate solution to ensure a steady supply of masks as the world clambers for protection against the China coronavirus.

Last week, as fears over the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) reached a fever pitch and Chinese purchases of face masks rapidly began to deplete the global supply, an image surfaced on social media showing masks guaranteed to keep Chinese away because of the presence of the dreaded Taiwanese flag. Images of the masks first surfaced on Twitter and Reddit with the caption "Taiwan printed its national flag on face masks so that any mainland Chinese who buys them will have to wear the Taiwanese flag on his face."

Next, the image made its way to the Japanese social media site Ameba when Japanese blogger Rie Ogasawara (小笠原理惠) posted it on Sunday (Feb. 2). She added a caption in Japanese which reads, "Taiwanese print their national flag on the mask so that when Chinese buy it, they will wear the Taiwanese national flag on their face." Taiwanese netizens on the popular online forum PTT then misunderstood the post and believed that the masks had been created in Japan.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 02/02/2020
By: Emerson Lim

Taipei, Feb. 2 (CNA) Taiwan's government has extended its travel ban of visitors from China to Chinese citizens living in Wenzhou due to the worsening of the coronavirus epidemic there, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said Sunday.

At a hastily called press conference Sunday evening, CDC Director-General Chou Jih-haw (周志浩) said the number of confirmed cases of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in the coastal city had reached 265 as of Saturday.

This was the highest number of any prefectural-level administrative division in China outside Hubei Province, where the coronavirus was first detected, and a community-level transmission could be taking place locally, Chou said.

Local authorities in Wenzhou have also began restricting the movement of residents there, he said.
[FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 04, 2020
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Eswatini remains a staunch ally despite China’s political and economic pressure, the Ministry of

Foreign Affairs said late on Sunday, after Beijing reportedly threatened to cut business ties with the African nation if it maintained diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

“Eswatini has reiterated its firm intentions to deepen its diplomatic relations with Taiwan, even in the face of pressure from China,” ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said in a statement.

The ministry wishes to express its “sincere appreciation and highest respect” to Eswatini for standing up to China’s efforts at suppression, she said, adding that Beijing was “rudely interfering in the economic activities of another nation.”

The Times of Swaziland reported late last month that an undated statement reportedly issued by the Chinese embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, said that visa applications by Swazi citizens would be processed only at that embassy.    [FULL  STORY]