Eye On Taiwan

Tai Tzu-ying hailed as Taiwan’s world No. 1 quarantines Posted: 21 Mar 2020 02:21 PM PDT Taipei Times Date: Mar 22, 2020 By: Staff writer, with CNA Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying holds the All England Open Badminton Championships trophy after her win in the women’s singles in Birmingham last Sunday. Photo: Reuters The Badminton World Federation (BWF) hailed Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying after her win at the All England Open Badminton Championships with a video montage on Facebook as the shuttler began 14 days of self-quarantine on her return to Taiwan. The BWF Facebook group released the video on Friday, saying: “She is terrific, she is tenacious, she is the queen. All hail Queen Tai,” lauding her third All England title after her 21-19, 21-15 victory over top seed and then-world No. 1 Chen Yufei of China in in Birmingham on Sunday. Tai on Wednesday posted a photograph of herself onboard an EVA Airways flight to Taiwan wearing a mask and saying how nice it was to return to the place she is familiar with. “Everyone is wearing a mask and treating each other politely,” she wrote. Tai said that airport personnel were surprised that she was returning from Europe and asked if she knew about the quarantine rules. Tai wrote that she told the airport staff she was aware of the rules. She had displayed care during the competition, insisting that she and reporters wear masks during interviews, and that microphones be sterilized regularly.    [FULL  STORY]

Surgical masks on sale at Taiwan airport duty-free shops Posted: 21 Mar 2020 02:16 PM PDT Masks will be available for inbound passengers and cost NT$50 or US$2 for 3 masks   Taiwan News Date: 2020/03/21 By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer Duty-free shops at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.  (Wikimedia Commons photo) TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Having caught up with an upsurge in local demand for surgical masks due to the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, Taiwan's Centers for Disease Control (CECC) announced on Friday (March 20) it would make masks available at airports. Working together, the government and local mask manufacturers are now churning out 10 million masks a day. This is a huge leap from the 1.88 million units three months ago. The CECC said masks will be available at all duty-free shops at the country's five international airports from Saturday (March 21) and each inbound passenger can buy one pack of three adult-size or five child-size masks for NT$50 or US$2. A boarding pass, passport, or equivalent travel documents are required to make the purchase. Purchases for both Taiwanese and foreigners will be recorded in the country's National Health Insurance system and is subject to the rationing policy of every Taiwanese and Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) holder buying three adult-size or five child-size masks per week. Each unit costs just NT$5 (US$0.17), regardless of the size.    [FULL  ST-ORY]

Taiwan to boost production of instant noodles, toilet paper Posted: 21 Mar 2020 02:13 PM PDT Focus Taiwan Date: 03/21/2020 By: Wu Po-wei and Lee Hsin-Yin CNA file photo Taipei, March 21 (CNA) Local manufacturers of instant noodles and toilet paper have pledged to boost production amid public fears of shortages of basic household items due to the new coronavirus outbreak, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs on Saturday. The ministry said in a Facebook post that during a meeting with the manufacturers Saturday, they pledged to run their production lines around the clock for the next two weeks to meet a surge in demand. Participating instant noodle providers included Uni-President and Wei Lih Food Industrial Co., while toilet paper suppliers included YFY Inc., Cheng Loong Corp. and Golden Century Paper, the ministry said. Taiwan has seen a panic run on food and basic household items — with toilet paper at the top of the list — after the number of confirmed cases of the new coronavirus surged above 100 earlier this week.    [FULL  STORY]

Advertisers stare into the coronavirus abyss Posted: 21 Mar 2020 02:09 PM PDT Clients worldwide are canceling ad campaigns and pulling cash from the sector, while billboards rented before the outbreak advertise products at deserted airports Taipei Times Date: Mar 22, 2020 page16 By: Kate Holton / Reuters, LONDON A police officer walks across an empty 7th Avenue in a sparsely populated Times Square in New York City on Friday. Photo: AP The cancelation of major sporting events and the decimation of the luxury, entertainment and travel industries is delivering a hammer blow to a global advertising industry that was already reeling from years of tech-led turmoil. What should have been a bumper year with UEFA Euro 2020, the Tokyo Olympics and US elections looks like it could be one of the worst for ad giants WPP PLC, Omnicom Group Inc, Publicis Groupe SA and IPG Inc as the economy shuts down. Advertising executives told reporters that clients are pulling campaigns, photoshoots for glossy magazines are off and major brands are cutting budgets to conserve cash after the COVID-19 pandemic upended the way people go about their daily lives.“This is a very sudden, immediate and significant hit to people’s revenue and bottom line. A lot of people will go to the wall as a result of it,” London Advertising founder and chief executive Michael Moszynski said. “All the media agencies globally are being told by their clients to cancel their spend.”    [FULL  STORY]

Inside Taiwan during COVID-19: How they keep schools and businesses open Posted: 21 Mar 2020 02:03 PM PDT Taiwan acted early to make sure there were supplies of masks, sanitizer CBC Date: Mar 21, 2020 By: Caitlin Taylor, Stephanie Kampf, Tyana Grundig and David Common  Taiwanese children eat their lunch at school. They only take their masks off when the dividers are up to prevent infection. (Submitted) It's almost life as usual for the Lin family of Taiwan during the coronavirus pandemic — with a few noticeable exceptions. "We didn't worry too much," said Leeli Chang, who lives with her husband, Terry Lin, and her daughter, Peggy, 8, in a suburb of Taipei. The family, like many in Taiwan, continue to go to work, to school and out shopping as normal since the COVID-19 epidemic, but now with some precautions in place — like regular temperature checks and hand sanitizer dispensers outside most public buildings, and many people wearing masks. Taiwan was hit hard by the SARS pandemic in 2003, but this time, the government took swift and early actions when it first became aware of an unknown pneumonia in Wuhan, China. [FULL  STORY]

How Taiwan and Singapore managed to contain COVID-19, while letting normal life go on Posted: 21 Mar 2020 01:56 PM PDT The countries seem to have found the sweet spot between a 'it’s just like the flu' reaction, and imposition of economically devastating lockdowns National Post Date: March 21, 2020 By: Tom Blackwell Commuters wearing face masks as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus look at their mobile phones on the Mass Rapid Transit train in Singapore on March 18, 2020.Catherine Lai/AFP via Getty Images Sandra Johnson’s husband had already left for work by the time she talked to the National Post Thursday — early Friday morning where she lives in Singapore. His office was open, and the expat from Mississauga, Ont., was herself planning to visit a nearby mall later. She had gone to the chiropractor the day before. The city-state of six million is an eastern Asian transportation hub and for a few days had the world’s second-highest number of COVID-19 cases. But its total stood at a modest 345 Friday, with no deaths. And as Canadians hunker down in their homes or go on panic-buying sprees at the local grocery, life in Singapore motors on more or less as usual.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan to test recent returnees from US and East Asia for coronavirus Posted: 21 Mar 2020 01:45 PM PDT Returnees who visited doctors and reported coronavirus symptoms to undergo self quarantine Taiwan News Date: 2020/03/21 By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer Passengers wait to leave Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Saturday.  (CNA photo) TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — An estimated 3,000 people who returned from the United States and East Asia between March 8 and March 18 might have to undergo tests for the coronavirus and stay at home, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced Saturday (March 21). The health authorities are looking through the national health insurance records of recent arrivals who sought medical care, CNA reported. These individuals will be alerted by text message to stay at home for 14 days and asked to contact the local health department, or phone 1922 to arrange for a coronavirus test.    [FULL  STORY]

More airlines suspend flights serving Taiwan amid pandemic Posted: 21 Mar 2020 01:42 PM PDT Focus Taiwan Date: 03/21/2020 By: Yu Hsiao-han and Lee Hsin-Yin Taipei, March 21 (CNA) More airlines have decided to suspend flights serving Taiwan amid plummeting demand and increasingly tight border controls set by governments around the world, including Taiwan's, to keep the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at bay. Thai AirAsia said Saturday it will cancel all international flights from March 25 to April 25, including the Taoyuan-Chiang Mai route between Taiwan and Thailand. AirAsia said its Taoyuan-Sabah flights and Kaohsiung-Kuala Lumpur flights between Taiwan and Malaysia, as well as all long-haul flights starting with the code D7 will be canceled from March 19 to 31, while flights from Taoyuan to Nagoya in Japan will be canceled from March 19 to April 24. Jetstar Asia Airways said it will suspend all flights between March 23 and April 15, and Malindo Air said its Taoyuan-Kuala Lumpur flights will be canceled between March 19 and April 30. FULL  STORY]

Virus Outbreak: Former nurse pays Chen Shih-chung homage in latte Posted: 21 Mar 2020 01:38 PM PDT Taipei Times Date: Mar 22, 2020 By: Dennis Xie / Staff writer, with CNA A latte art sculpture of Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung is displayed on Monday at Tseng Hsiao-chiao’s coffee shop in Pingtung County Chaojhou Township. Photo: Chiu Chih-jou, Taipei Times A coffee shop owner, who was previously a nurse, created a “4D” latte art sculpture of Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) to thank him for recognizing the efforts of frontline nurses amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Few people understand the painstaking nature of a nurse’s job, but Chen gave several pep talks to nurses, recognizing and validating their hard work, Tseng Hsiao-chiao (曾筱喬), who runs a coffee shop in Pingtung County’s Chaojhou Township (潮州), said on Monday. Touched by Chen’s support for frontline nurses, Tseng said she used special techniques to craft the sculpture of Chen holding a microphone with a speech bubble on the side with the words: “Wear a mask, wash hands frequently and take your temperature.” Some people have visited the shop to take phtographs with the creation, she said.  [FULL  STORY]

China, South Korea, Taiwan sending masks and medical staff to other countries in need Posted: 21 Mar 2020 01:32 PM PDT The Chinese Red Cross shipped 30 tons of medical equipment along with nine Chinese medical staff to assist with preventing and controlling the virus. NBC News Date: March 21, 2020 By: Cynthia Silva Doctors and members of the Chinese Red Cross pose for a photo prior to a press conference in Rome on March 13, 2020.Alfredo Falcone / LaPresse via AP file China, South Korea and Taiwan are now sending resources around the world to help combat the coronavirus pandemic. As new cases in Asian countries have dropped sharply — though all three countries are facing a second wave of infections — businesses, individuals and officials have said they are sending masks, staff and more. Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu announced Wednesday that the country plans to donate 100,000 masks to the United States on a weekly basis once its supplies are stable. In exchange, the United States will reserve 300,000 hazmat suits for Taiwan, according to local reports. Individuals are also offering help, as well. Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, for example, tweeted images of 500,000 virus testing kits and 1 million masks set to arrive in the United States. [FULL  STORY]