Focus Taiwan
Date: 04/05/2020
By: Chang Hsiung-feng and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, April 5 (CNA) The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) on Sunday said it conducted disinfection operations at most of the country's major tourist spots earlier in the day and will do at the remaining sites and Taipei Main Station later the same day as a preventive measure to avoid a potential COVID-19 spike following the 4-day Tomb Sweeping Festival break.

The EPA said as most vacationers returned home from tourist hot spots early Sunday with the holiday drawing to an end, it has asked local disinfection teams to disinfect a number of attractions widely visited during the 4-day break.

The locations disinfected on Sunday morning included the main street of Kenting and other areas in southeastern Pingtung County's Hengchun Peninsula, which is famous for beaches and water sports.

Other sites included Beigang Chaotian Temple in southern Yunlin County; Alishan National Scenery Area in southern Chiayi County; Dongdamen Tourist Night Market in eastern Hualien County; Wusanto Reservoir in southern Tainan City, as well as Xingda Fishing Port in the southern city of Kaohsiung, among others, according to the EPA    [FULL STORY]

NewsMax
Date: 04 April 2020
By John Gizzi

As Taiwan emerges as one of the front-and-center fighters in the international effort to defeat coronavirus, questions are mounting as to why the island-nation is denied membership in the World Health Organization.

Last week, a correspondent from Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) asked WHO spokesman Bruce Aylward whether Taiwan would be considered for membership in the United Nations-run health organization.

Aylward hung up on her — on live television.

The incident has become a social media sensation as a topic of discussion worldwide.  On RTHK's series "The Pulse" — roughly Hong Kong's equivalent of "60 Minutes" — an episode focused on how the coronavirus was affecting New York, London, and Lombardy, Italy.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 04/04/2020
By: Chang Ming-hsuan and Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, April 4 (CNA) Two more members of a 17-person tour group to Austria and the Czech Republic were confirmed as having contracted the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Saturday, bringing the group's cluster infections to eight, the Central Epidemic Control Center (CECC) said that day.

The two individuals from the group that traveled from March 5-14 showed no symptoms, said Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), deputy director-general of the Centers for Disease Control and CECC spokesman.

It was not until the CECC learned that six members of the tour group were already infected, including one death, that it recalled all group members for a COVID-19 test and identified the two new cases.

The two patients had developed pulmonary infiltration, Chuang said, adding that the other nine members are still being tested.    [FULL  STORY]

PEOPLE IN POWER: KMT Legislator Wan Mei-ling said many cases that occur in the workplace involve people abusing their authority to sexually harass colleagues

Taipei Times
Date:  Apr 05, 2020
By: Chen Yun and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wan Mei-ling (萬美玲) is calling for larger fines for sexual harassment, saying that current fines have failed to act as a deterrent amid a growing number of cases.

Over the past 11 years, the number of reported cases of sexual harassment has grown nearly fivefold, but offenders have only been fined about NT$20,000 on average per offense, demonstrating that fines have failed to deter such behavior, Wan said on Friday.

Laws should be amended to increase the fines from the current range of NT$10,000 to NT$100,000 per offense to NT$30,000 to NT$300,000, she said.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wan Mei-ling stands behind a sign that reads: "Education must not become chaotic" while speaking at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei on March 6.

Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times

Citing data from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Wan said that the number of reported cases of sexual harassment grew from 154 in 2007 to 546 in 2018.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 03 April, 2020
By: Leslie Liao

Plans for President Tsai Ing-wen’s second inauguration ceremony are set to be confirmed next week. The ceremony will mark the start of Tsai’s second term in office, which she secured in January’s election.

President Tsai had announced in February that she was suspending planning for the ceremony in order to focus on combating the COVID-19 outbreak. On Friday, the Presidential Office said that this year’s inauguration will be simplified.    [FULL  STORY]

Amounts of chromium found in Tainan farms, Tainan City mayor deems it safe for planting crops

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/04/03
By: Chris Chang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) held a press conference with several environmental nonprofits on April 1, accusing Tainan City government of allowing corn-harvesting even though the farmland is gravely polluted by chromium, a metal which causes respiratory problems and kidney damage in humans.

In February, Tainan Community College disclosed the issue of stainless steel waste in corn farms throughout Houbi,Tainan. Investigators categorized three areas of a farm based on how well the corn grew and found the concentration of chromium was pegged as below 180 parts per million (ppm), 650 ppm and above 2000 ppm.

In some areas, the concentration even hit 3300 ppm, way above the average of 0.2 ppm found in Taiwan's farmlands.

However, the city's environmental bureau revealed in an article on March 23, that test results showed that the toxicity levels in the local soil, groundwater, and corn in the same area were all below the maximum limit. Tainan City Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) promised the land was safe to grow crops.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 04/03/2020
By: Hsu Wei-ting, Emerson Lim and Matthew Mazzetta

Washington, April 2 (CNA) The U.S. State Department on Thursday said it recently held a virtual forum

with counterparts in Taiwan on the topic of expanding Taiwan's participation on the global stage.

The discussion, which took place Tuesday, focused on "creating forums to share the successful and internationally lauded Taiwan model on fighting COVID-19 with countries around the world," the State Department said in a press release.

The two sides also discussed efforts to reinstate Taiwan's observer status at the World Health Assembly (WHA), and establishing closer coordination between Taiwan and the World Health Organization (WHO), the statement said. Taiwan is not a member of the WHO.

The state department said its participants included Pam Pryor, Atul Keshap, Jonathan Fritz and Nerissa Cook — all senior executive service officials — as well as American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Brett Christensen.    [FULL  STORY]