Radio Taiwan International
Date: 17 February, 2020
By: Leslie Liao

Taiwan’s labor ministry has called on employers to avoid sending their employees to China for work. The call comes amid the deadly COVID-19 outbreak which has yet to be contained.

Labor activist group Taiwan Labor Front and DPP Legislator Hung Sun-han held a joint press conference on Monday. That was in response to news reports about Taiwanese businesses asking employees in Taiwan to return to China for work.

Taiwan Labor Front says that there are also reports of employers asking their employees to bring face masks, in excess of government regulations, for dispersal at factories and offices.

Hung says that asking people to return to Wuhan puts them at risk of being infected with COVID-19. He said it creates a loophole in Taiwan’s prevention protocols and brings unnecessary burden to employees.    [FULL  STORY]

He warns that if prevention and control of epidemic is not improved a global pandemic will ensue

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/02/17
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A public health scholar estimated on Monday that more than 100 people possibly infected with the COVID-19 disease in Taiwan have gone undetected, according to a Chinatimes report.

National Taiwan University College of Public Health Deputy Dean Tony Chen (陳秀熙) said COVID-19 has spread from China into other Asian countries, with Thailand, Singapore, and Japan experiencing community-wide outbreaks.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 02/17/2020
By: Yeh Su-ping, Chang Ming-hsuan and Chiang Yi-ching

Taipei, Feb. 17 (CNA) There is no community-level transmission of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in Taiwan, despite the nation reporting its first death from the virus Sunday, Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁), an epidemiologist by profession, said Monday.

A 61-year-old limousine service driver, who lived in central Taiwan, died shortly after being diagnosed with the disease on Feb. 15, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced Sunday.

The patient had hepatitis B and diabetes, according to the CECC, and had not traveled overseas recently, nor did he have known contact with any COVID-19 patients.

The vice president put forth the view in a post on his Facebook page early Monday, after Health Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC, said at a press event a day earlier that the case suggested possible community transmission in Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

MONEY MATTERS: Fees for private, occupation-oriented universities are often twice that of public universities, which could be a reason parents are avoiding the schools

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 18, 2020
By: Rachel Lin, Wu Po-hsuan and Dennis Xie  /  Staff reporters, with staff writer

The number of vocational high-school students in the nation last year plunged by more than 100,000

compared with 2009, and is forecast to be exceeded by that of high-school students for the first time this summer semester, the Union of Private School Educators said on Sunday.

Over the period, the number of high-school and vocational high-school students combined has decreased from about 800,000 to 660,000, with the former dropping from 360,000 to 325,000, and the latter dropping from 440,000 to 335,000, Ministry of Education data showed.

The drop in vocational high-school student numbers accounted for 75.3 percent of the total decrease in the two groups, the data showed.

Tuition fees for private universities are twice that of public universities, which receive more resources from the government, union president Yu Jung-hui (尤榮輝) said, adding that the two cannot compete on the same ground.    [FULL  STORY]

There are 18 confirmed cases in Taiwan so far.

Mothership
Date:  February 16, 2020
By: Kayla Wong

Travellers who have visited Singapore and Thailand in the past 14 days will receive special attention after arriving in Taiwan, Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced on Saturday, Feb. 15.

Added measure to contain the virus

According to TVBS, doctors will perform tests on them if necessary to see if they are infected with the coronavirus (Covid-19).

Should they test negative for the Covid-19, but exhibit symptoms of the virus, such as having a fever or breathing problems, they will have to monitor their health for the next 14 days.

Should they test positive for the Covid-19, they will be sent to the hospital immediately for treatment.

The measure was introduced to strengthen efforts to contain the virus.    [FULL  STORY]

Vice president and epidemiologist Chen Chien-jen seeks to allay fears of COVID-19 'community spread'

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/02/17
By: Huang Tzu-ti, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taxi drivers are being advised to leave their car windows open after Taiwan reported its first death on Sunday (Feb. 16), of a cab driver who may have contracted the Wuhan coronavirus from his customers.

Bus or cab drivers should ensure they have a well-ventilated environment when driving if face masks are not available, said infectious diseases expert Hwang Kao-ping (黃高彬) of the CMU Children’s Hospital.

The victim was in his 60s and had underlying health problems and may have contracted the virus from his customers. His clients mainly hailed from China, Hong Kong, and Macau, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).

The case has sparked concerns of "community spread" — with COVID-19 dispersing through the wider Taiwan community. Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁), an epidemiologist, on Monday (Feb. 17) sought to assuage the public’s fears by clarifying the difference between community spread and local transmission.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 02/16/2020
By: Joseph Yeh

Taipei, Feb. 16 (CNA) The U.S. warship that sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Saturday has been identified as the USS Chancellorsville, according to a Facebook post by the U.S. Seventh Fleet late Saturday.

The post released on the U.S. Seventh Fleet's Facebook page reads, "the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville CG-62 conducts normal underway operations transiting from the East China Sea to the South China Sea."

The post also has four photographs showing the warship and its crew.

However, it did not specify when the transit was made and if it was made via the Taiwan Strait which separates Taiwan and China.

LEVEL  WATCHING:The Travel Agents’ Association said that deciding whether to cancel tours was difficult, as tickets are non-refundable, despite a travel advisory

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 17, 2020
By: Shelley Shan  /  Staff reporter

Thirty to 40 percent of group tours have said they want to cancel tours to Japan since the government

on Friday issued a “level 1” travel advisory for the nation, travel agents said.

The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) issued the “watch” travel notice for Japan, saying that people planning to travel there should take precautions against COVID-19 infection.

The government’s three-tier travel advisory system has level 1, urging people to take normal precautions and respect disease-prevention measures at their destination; level 2 — “alert” — urging people to be vigilant; and level 3 — “warning” — which cautions against nonessential travel.

Travel Agents’ Association chairman Hsiao Po-jen (蕭博仁) said that travel companies have been receiving telephone calls from people inquiring about the status of tours to Japan, and 30 to 40 percent of them asked if they could cancel their trips.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 02/15/2020
By: Wang Shu-fen, Tsai Peng-min and Frances Huang

Taipei, Feb. 15 (CNA) The magnitude-5.5 and 5.1 temblors that hit Hualien, eastern Taiwan on Saturday evening were a "normal release" of energy, according to the Central Weather Bureau (CWB).

Chen Kuo-chang (陳國昌), acting director of the Central Weather Bureau's Seismology Center, told reporters that such a normal release of energy is a positive development for eastern Taiwan, which is where the descending Philippine Sea Plate goes under the Eurasian Plate, resulting in a broken tectonic area that causes earthquakes.

Chen said multiple tremblors measuring magnitude 3 to 4 have hit eastern Taiwan recently at a time when the two plates are colliding, and the center had expected more quakes in the area based on historical records.

The quakes struck on the coast of Hualien at 7 p.m. and 7:05 p.m. Saturday.   [FULL  STORY]