Radio Taiwan International
Date: 25 February, 2020
By: Paula Chao

President Tsai Ing-wen is calling on Germany to continue its support for Taiwan’s bid to join global efforts to contain COVID-19. Tsai was speaking Tuesday while meeting with the head of the German Institute Taipei, Thomas Prinz.

Earlier at a WHO meeting, Germany spoke in favor of Taiwan’s bid to join the WHO on behalf of the 27 EU member countries. Germany said no region or country should be excluded from the global health network to contain the new coronavirus COVID-19.    [FULL  STORY]

WA Today
Date: February 25, 2020
By: Anthony Galloway

Australia has been urged to take a lead role in calming hostilities between China and Taiwan, with a think tank warning a major conflict in the region could trigger an Australian recession.

In a paper for the Lowy Institute, Asia-Pacific security expert Brendan Taylor said if key regional governments such as Australia failed to help de-escalate tensions, the consequences were "likely to be serious".

He said "lying low" was no longer an acceptable policy for Canberra as an all-out conflict between China and Taiwan would inflict serious damage on Australia's economy and security.

"The stakes for Canberra are high," the paper said, noting Taiwan was a critical link in global supply chains as a provider of advanced manufacturing, and some of Australia's largest trading partners – China, Japan and South Korea – were close by.    [FULL  STORY]

Ministry of Labor designated Feb. 21 as Taiwan’s Equal Pay Day for 2020

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/02/25
By:  Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The latest report issued by the Ministry of Labor on Tuesday (Feb. 25) shows that Taiwanese women need to work an additional 52 days to get the same pay as their male colleagues.

The ministry has designated Feb. 21 as the country’s Equal Pay Day for 2020 based on a survey of people’s salaries last year. The survey reveals that in 2019 the average hourly rate of female workers in Taiwan was NT$292, which accounts for 85.8 percent of their male colleagues’ hourly rate.

The gender pay gap last year was 14.2 percent. In other word, the incomes of women in Taiwan were nearly two months less than those of their colleagues of the opposite sex.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 02/25/2020
By: Chang Ming-hsuan and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Feb. 25 (CNA) Surgical face masks for children aged 13 or below will soon be available every day of the week but will still be limited to four per child every seven days, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced Tuesday.

Under the current face mask rationing system, people can only buy face masks on a rotating basis depending on the ID number on their national health insurance card.

People whose ID numbers end with an odd number can purchase masks on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, while those whose ID numbers end with an even number can buy masks on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

That restriction will be phased out for children 13 or under starting Thursday, the CECC said, but it will still be kept for adults, and the number of masks per person will remain at two per week for adults and four per week for children.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 24 February, 2020
By: Leslie Liao

Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is sharing information online about the country’s confirmed COVID-19 cases. Included is the location of each case, plotted on a map.

The CDC had previously opened up access to the COVID-19 database but then took it offline. Authorities restored access to it on Sunday.    [FULL  STORY]

Stuff
Date: Feb 25 2020
By: Lorna Thornber

Bernie Moore is living a surprisingly Kiwi lifestyle in Taiwan. 

An English teacher in Taipei, he devotes much of his free time to rugby (playing, coaching and working with the national rugby union to restore the Taiwanese team to its 1970s and 80s glory), organises hangis and other events for the local Kiwi community, and tackles outdoor adventures whenever he gets the chance  

"[Taiwan] is a beautiful island nation with amazing coastlines, huge mountains, incredible forests and dramatic landscapes," he says of the state said to have become the first true Chinese democracy. "There are an incredible number of hikes with breathtaking views that are easily accessible," he adds, noting that camping, surfing, boating, kayaking and canyoning are also fairly popular.

"The Taiwanese have built a wonderful society that is gradually becoming less homogeneous," Moore says.

While the demands of work, rugby, volunteering and raising two children in a fiercely academically competitive society mean he doesn't get out of the city as often as he'd like, Moore says he's still able to do "all the cool things I could as a kid back in Aotearoa".    [FULL  STORY]

National Taiwan University professor says Wuhan coronavirus could be synthetic

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/02/24
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — As the Wuhan coronavirus continues to spread like wildfire across the globe, a National Taiwan University (NTU) professor on Saturday (Feb. 22) said the virus is likely man-made, based on its unusual structure.

At a seminar on the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) hosted by the Taiwan Public Health Association at NTU, Fang Chi-tai (方啟泰), a professor at NTU's College of Public Health, addressed the many theories circulating that the virus somehow leaked from or was released from the Wuhan Institute of Virology biosafety level 4 laboratory (BSL-4 Lab). He said that what is known is that there are many deadly viruses being researched in the facility, such as SARS and Ebola, and that China's track record with safety standards and laboratory management has been questioned in the past.

Fang said that COVID-19 is 96 percent similar to the bat virus RaTG13, which is known to be housed at the lab. Fang said that this in itself is not a smoking gun, as a genetic similarity of 99 percent would be required to declare them to be the same.

He said that a French team investigating COVID-19 had found that the key difference between RaTG13 and COVID-19 was that the latter has four additional amino acids not found in any other coronaviruses. Fang said that these four amino acids make the disease easier to transmit.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 02/24/2020
By: Chen Wei-ting and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, Feb. 24 (CNA) Taiwan reported two more confirmed cases of COVID-19 coronavirus Monday, bringing the number in the country to 30 since the outbreak began, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said that day.

Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC, told reporters that the latest two cases are the younger son and wife of the 27th case.

The younger son, in his 40s, developed respiratory symptoms on Jan. 29 but did not see a doctor.

He was finally admitted to a hospital isolation ward under the instruction of the health authorities after he was listed as a close contact of the 27th case — his 80-something father — on Feb. 23, according to the CECC.    [FULL  STORY]