Radio Taiwan International
Date: 01 May, 2020
By: John Van Trieste

Labor groups are calling on the government to expand the number of workers who can receive payments under a COVID-19 relief program. That’s as the number of Taiwanese workers on unpaid leave approaches 19,000, the highest figure since 2009.

The current plan is to provide relief payments to 500,000 workers. However, during a Labor Day press conference on Friday, activists said that applications for the payments were coming in quickly, with 50,000 on the first day of the application period alone. They said this could mean that the entire quota for applications will be reached in just ten days.    [FULL  STORY]

The Hindu
Date: May 02, 2020
By: Chen Shih-chung

If WHO’s mission is to ensure the highest level of health for all, then no country should be excluded from this goal

The threat of emerging infectious diseases to global health and the economy, trade, and tourism has never abated. Pandemics can spread rapidly around the world because of the ease of international transportation. Among the most salient examples are the Spanish flu of 1918, the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak of 2003, and the H1N1 influenza of 2009. Intermittently, serious regional epidemics, such as the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2012, Ebola in West Africa in 2014, and the Zika virus in Central and South America in 2015-16, have also reared their heads.

Also read | How pandemics have changed the world

Today, a novel form of pneumonia that first emerged in Wuhan, China, at the end of 2019 and has since been classified as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused a global pandemic. As of April 8, 2020, World Health Organisation (WHO) data shows that 1.35 million people had been confirmed as having the disease, with 79,235 deaths in 211 countries/areas/territories. Taiwan too has not been spared.

Taiwan’s strategy

In the 17 years since it was hit hard by the SARS outbreak, Taiwan has been in a state of constant readiness to the threat of emerging infectious disease. As a result, when information concerning a novel pneumonia outbreak was first confirmed on December 31, 2019, Taiwan began implementing onboard quarantine of direct flights from Wuhan that same day. On January 2, 2020, Taiwan established a response team for the disease and activated the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on January 20 as a level 3 government entity, upgrading it to level 2 and level 1 on January 23 and February 27, respectively. The CECC is able to effectively integrate resources from various ministries and invest itself fully in the containment of the epidemic.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/05/01
By:  Central News Agency

Most parts of Taiwan are expected to see highs of 30 degrees Celsius or more, along with partly cloudy to sunny weather this weekend, the Central Weather Bureau said Friday.

Daytime highs are forecast to climb to between 30 and 34 degrees over the three-day break across Taiwan. Taipei and Taichung can expect 33 degrees, with 34 degrees in Chiayi, Pingtung and Taitung on Sunday, the bureau said.

Some showers are expected in Taiwan's offshore counties of Penghu, Kinmen and Lienchiang, which covers Matsu Islands, on Friday and Saturday, with Matsu forecast to see a high of 28 degrees this weekend — the only region forecast with a daytime high of below 30 degrees, according to the bureau.

Fog and low cloud may cause low visibility in Kinmen and Matsu, it added.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 05/01/2020
By: Sabine Cheng and Kay Liu

Taipei, May 1 (CNA) Several cultural events have been planned in Taiwan for over the Labor Day weekend, both online and in the real world, as organizers contemplate appropriate ways to stay connected with audiences amid the COVID-19 conoravirus pandemic.

The National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying) in the southern city opened on Friday a month-long exhibition titled "Eureka! 2.0 Rediscovering Weiwuying," which uses text, images, videos and performance props to convey the idea that "life is theater."

According to Weiwuying, the event showcases the four-year collaboration between the Kaohsiung venue and the Prague Quadrennial of stage design. It will also include free outdoor performances on the afternoons of May 8 and 9.

Weiwuying General and Artistic Director Chien Wen-pin (簡文彬) told CNA Thursday that it has a vast covered outdoor space for events and has seen a slow increase of visitors since last weekend.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 30 April, 2020
By: John Van Trieste

Taiwan has significantly ramped up its production of surgical masks over the past few months in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Masks are still being rationed, but the quota per person has been steadily increased.

With Taiwan coming ever closer to meeting its own demand, the government has started allowing citizens to donate their quota to help people in other parts of the world. Taiwan’s people have responded with generosity.

On April 27, the government started letting citizens donate their mask quota to countries where the need for masks is still high. In just two days, more than 260,000 Taiwanese citizens had done just that, donating over two million masks.

The reason Taiwan has so many masks on hand is twofold. Firstly, the government instituted the rationing system now in place early on during the COVID-19 pandemic, stopping hoarding and price gouging before they could get out of hand. And secondly, there are the factories that have been put into overdrive since February, bringing new machines online to catch up with demand.
[FULL  STORY]

The Age
Date: April 30, 2020
By: Eryk Bagshaw and Anthony Galloway

Australia will support Taiwan's return to the World Health Organisation as an observer four years after it was ousted by Beijing, risking another diplomatic spat.

The position, which follows an appeal from Taiwan's Health Minister, is consistent with Australia's long-held view that Taiwan should be able to participate in practical cooperation at the UN health agency.

However, this is likely to further strain relations with China, which claims sovereignty over its island neighbour.

Australia and China's foreign ministries have traded barbs over the past week, leading to accusations of bullying, coercion and intimidation as the Morrison government pushes global calls into an independent inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus.    [FULL  STORY]

EP-3E mission amounts to 13th US flight in area in April

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/04/30
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A United States military reconnaissance aircraft flew over the Bashi Channel separating south Taiwan from the Philippines Thursday (April 30) in the 13th such appearance this month.

The flights have been seen as a response to continuous missions by Chinese jets and warships near Taiwan despite the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Thursday’s flight was carried out by an EP-3E Aries II signals intelligence aircraft and was monitored by the Ministry of National Defense, the Liberty Times reported. According to Aircraft Spots, a website that tracks military air movements, the American jet first appeared over the Bashi Channel before turning north and flying back and forth several times off Taiwan’s southwest coast.

Boeing’s EP-3E will reportedly be retired in 2025 and could eventually be replaced by unmanned aircraft and helicopters, according to media reports. In 2001, a similar surveillance aircraft collided with a Chinese jet and conducted an emergency landing on the Chinese island of Hainan. The crew was accused of killing the Chinese pilot but was later allowed to leave.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 04/30/2020
By: Chen Yun-yu, Tseng Ting-hsuan and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, April 30 (CNA) A staff member at Taiwan's representative office in France has tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus, becoming the first confirmed case at Taiwan's overseas missions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Thursday.

The employee developed COVID-19 symptoms recently, was tested April 23 on a doctor's advice, and was confirmed on April 27 to have the disease, said MOFA spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安).

The patient is no longer experiencing COVID-19 symptoms but is still in home isolation, Ou said, adding that French authorities have been informed of the case.

The person, however, will not return to work at the representative office until they are deemed by a doctor to have fully recovered, Ou said.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date:  May 01, 2020
By: Jake Chung / Staff writer, with CNA

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday encouraged the public not to stop donating to charities, as even small sums could save groups facing difficulty raising funds amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It is not an issue of being charitable,” KMT Legislator Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷) said. “Whether these organizations survive can spell life or death for the disadvantaged people they care for.”

The pandemic is also affecting fundraising for social welfare and eating into funds for standing outreach, said Chang Hsueh-heng (張學恆), founder of a watchdog for the rights of those with mental and physical disabilities.

The government should give a six-month subsidy, help people willing to work for certain organizations and give subsidies to volunteers, Chang said.    [FULL  STORY]