Focus Taiwan
Date: 06/15/2020
By: Chen Yi-hsuan and Chiang Yi-ching

Taipei, June 15 (CNA) Eight specially designed manhole covers that reflect features of four districts in Taipei were put on display Monday for a four-day exhibition at the Taipei City Hall.

The exhibition, which runs from June 15-18, presents two manhole covers each for the city districts of Nangang, Zhongzheng, Wanhua and Datong.

The covers will be placed on sidewalks at tourist attractions in the four districts by the end of the year, aimed at changing people's impressions of manhole covers as "black and dirty," the city government said in a statement.

Designs for other districts in the city will be developed in the future, the statement went on.
[FULL  STORY]

Things such as medical masks, infared thermometers, gowns and gloves are among some of the items that have been donated

KCIR Radio
Date: 14/06/2020
By: Niamh Brophy   

Kilkenny has been given a large donation of PPE in order to assist with the the pandemic.

The Taipei Representative Office in Ireland, in partnership with the Taiwan Ireland Association, has donated the batch of PPE to Kilkenny City on on Friday.    [FULL  STORY]

Why masks, messaging and soap have been crucial to controlling the coronavirus

The Telegraph
Date: 14 June 2020
By: Nicola Smith, ASIA CORRESPONDENT

Audrey Tang, Taiwan’s “digital minister”, is one of the leaders of the country's successful coronavirus response team, helping to ensure a steady supply of protective face masks for the 23-million strong population and counter pandemic disinformation.

In an interview with the Telegraph, Ms Tang, one of the world’s top open source software developers and former "civic hacker", explains the key elements of Taiwan’s successful pandemic strategy.

The UK is debating the effectiveness of masks, whether they will help ease the lockdown? What impact have masks had in Taiwan?

Wearing a mask in Taiwan is a social signal and it signals two things – first, I am protecting myself from my own hands because I wouldn’t be touching my mask all the time and two, that I am washing my hands properly. We all know in Taiwan that wearing a mask is useless without washing your hands properly. It is a social signal to remind other people to take care of themselves in terms of hand sanitation and not touching your face.    [FULL  STORY]

S. Taiwan city reports new infection spread by rat, hitting 20-year high

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/06/14
By Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A woman in Kaohsiung City has contracted hantavirus, becoming the fifth case in the city and the seventh case in the country this year, setting a new high since records began in 2001.

The woman, in her 50s, is a restaurant worker in the southern port city. She was bitten by a rat on April 19 at her workplace and later exhibited symptoms of the disease, including fever, headache, muscle pain, chill, and excessive fatigue.

Unfortunately, the screening did not take place until the end of May after her doctor reported it as a suspected case of the rare virus spread by rodents.

According to government data, there have been two new cases in the past 30 days — one in May and one in June — bringing the country's total to seven. There were five cases in Kaohsiung, one in New Taipei City, and one in Keelung City.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan0
Date: 06/14/2020
By: Chen Chao-fu, Chen Wei-ting and Joseph Yeh

Kaohsiung, June 14 (CNA) The Kaohsiung City government decided on Sunday not to suspend a class in a secondary school after students who had symptoms similar to COVID-19 symptoms tested negative for the disease.

The city's Department of Health said four of the 15 students who had fallen ill with coughs, fevers and respiratory discomfort were tested for both COVID-19 and the flu Saturday and the test results for all four came back negative late Saturday and early Sunday.

The city government and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) conducted the tests after 15 of the 30 students in the class developed the symptoms between June 9 and June 12.

As the city and the CDC awaited the test results, the city announced Saturday that the class would be suspended starting Monday, but after the results came back negative, the Department of Health said there was no longer a need to halt the class.   [FULL  STORY]

CNN
Date: 12th June 2020
By: Ben Westcott, CNN

CNN) — With planes grounded and most tourism on hold during the coronavirus pandemic, one Taiwanese airport has come up with a unique solution to help citizens get their travel fix.

Taipei's Songshan airport will give 90 people the chance to take a tour of their airport and relive the experience of going through immigration, boarding a plane and then disembarking and returning home.

"Can't leave (Taiwan), then pretend to go abroad at Songshan," a flier posted to the airport's website read.

Songshan is the smaller of Taipei's two international airports and is located in the center of the city beside the Keelung River.    [FULL  STORY]

Straits Times
Date: June 13, 2020
By: Katherine Wei  Taiwan Correspondent In Taipei

Taiwanese are passionate about two things: politics and food. So what happens when the two worlds clash?

In the past year or so, bubble tea has been swirling in the rough-and-tumble world of politics.

A number of home-grown bubble tea chains are being boycotted for being "pro-China". All have stores on the mainland, as well as in Hong Kong and Macau, and Chinese firms invested in their expansion.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 06/13/2020 08:25 PM
By: Chen Chao-fu, Chang Min-hsuan and Ko Lin

Kaohsiung, June 13 (CNA) The Kaohsiung Department of Health ordered a secondary school in the city to suspend classes Saturday after half the students in the class had fallen ill in the previous four days with symptoms similar to those of COVID-19.

Out of the 30 students in the class, 15 came down with coughs, fevers and discomfort in the upper respiratory tract between June 9 and June 12, the department's technical specialist Pan Chao-ying (潘炤穎) said.

Following the class's suspension Saturday, four students were tested for both COVID-19 and the flu. Two of the students' COVID-19 tests and the other two students' flu tests came back negative.

Results for the other tests are expected on Sunday.    [FULL  STORY]