Eye On Taiwan

Two Han supporters ask court to stop recall vote Posted: 08 Apr 2020 03:43 PM PDT ‘RIDICULOUS BEHAVIOR’: Wecare Kaohsiung founder Aaron Yin said the filing to halt the recall was like Han Kuo-yu losing a game of mahjong and ‘flipping the table’ Taipei Times Date: Apr 09, 2020 By: Chang Wen-chuan and Ko Yu-hao / Staff reporters Lawyer Yeh Ching-yuan, left, and form/er Kaohsiung Information Bureau director-general Anne Wang, center, talk to reporters yesterday outside the Taipei High Administrative Court, where they filed a request to halt a recall vote against Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu. Photo: CNA Former Kaohsiung Information Bureau director-general Anne Wang (王淺秋) and lawyer Yeh Ching-yuan (葉慶元) yesterday filed a request with the Taipei High Administrative Court to halt an expected recall vote of Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), claiming that campaigners “jumped the gun” in collecting signatures. Petitioners on Tuesday passed the second-stage threshold needed for a recall vote after the Kaohsiung City Election Commission finished reviewing more than 400,000 signatures. The commission confirmed 377,662 signatures to be valid after duplicates and signatures with incomplete information were removed.It was to report the result yesterday to the Central Election Commission, which is expected to hold a meeting to review the case on Friday next week. A vote must be held 20 to 60 days after a recall case is established.    [FULL  STORY]

VIDEO: Students to practice social distancing when brushing teeth at school Posted: 08 Apr 2020 03:37 PM PDT Radio Taiwan International Date:| 08 April, 2020 By: Shirley Lin How about brushing at your desk? How about brushing at your desk?[/caption] Schools in Taiwan are taking every possible precaution to keep out COVID-19. Anything that could cause diseases to spread is being changed, including the way that students brush their teeth at school. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, students at Taiwanese elementary schools were encouraged to brush their teeth after lunch. They would gather around a sink and brush before heading off to their next class. Obviously, this is no longer an option. Students are still brushing their teeth after lunch, but they must take turns and keep a safe distance from one another. Schools are now extending lunch hour to make sure everyone gets a turn at the sink.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s Success Is the Bane of Beijing’s Global Coronavirus Propaganda Posted: 08 Apr 2020 03:30 PM PDT Much to Beijing’s chagrin, praise of Taiwan’s success has provided the democracy with much-needed global exposure. The Diplomat Date: April 08, 2020 By: Jo Kim Over the last few weeks, the world has observed a grand PR campaign from Beijing, an attempt Credit: Office of the President, ROC (Taiwan) to shift the global narrative in China’s favor by touting its containment of COVID-19 as the successful outcome of its political model. The outgoing message is that China’s anti-coronavirus campaign “demonstrated the notable advantages of the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics,” and that Singapore, Japan, and South Korea “based their responses on the experience and lessons drawn from China’s successful battle with the virus.” The Global Times has quoted Chinese analysts stating that China’s model is the “only proven successful model so far that could be replicated to halt the virus once and for all.” The other core message within China’s narrative is that “China has acted as a responsible big country” in playing a leadership role to combat the virus based on Xi Jinping’s concept of a “Community of Shared Future for Mankind.” China has backed its narrative by launching a “mask diplomacy” campaign, providing medical masks and ventilators as well as dispatching medical personnel to countries seeking aid. China’s mouthpiece media went into overdrive in circulating the news of the world’s gratitude toward China, reporting on the Serbian president kissing the Chinese flag and Italians playing the Chinese national anthem (the latter was later debunked by Italian media as “fake news”). The same contents flooded social media through fake accounts praising China’s effort while portraying democratic institutions as weak in coping with the pandemic. As democracies like the United States and Britain stumbled, the success of China’s draconian containment measures became a testament to the strength of Beijing’s authoritarian system. Democracies like France and Germany started implementing measures that Angela Merkel has described as “infringement on personal freedoms implemented only reluctantly” in the New York Times’ paraphrasing.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan to restrict number of visitors at amusement parks to 50% capacity Posted: 08 Apr 2020 03:25 PM PDT Number of parking spaces at scenic hot spots will be halved Taiwan News Date: 2020/04/08 By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer Visitors at an amusement park on April 4 (CNA photo) TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — In order to prevent the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19), amusement parks will soon only be permitted to allow the number of visitors at any one time to reach 50 percent of their maximum capacity, the Ministry of Transportation said Wednesday (April 8). Authorities were shocked by footage shot during the April 2-5 Tomb Sweeping Holiday, which showed dense crowds at some of the island’s major tourist attractions, including the beach resort of Kenting. Many people were seen completely disregarding the government's calls for “social distancing” and some were not even wearing masks. As a result, calls have emerged for the cancellation of the upcoming May 1 holiday, though the government has for the time being said that the three-day holiday still stands. However, on Wednesday the Ministry of Transportation said it was mulling setting the maximum safety density of visitors for the 25 most popular amusement parks at 50 percent of their total capacity, CNA reported.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan, Denmark jointly develop 12-minute COVID-19 test kit Posted: 08 Apr 2020 03:18 PM PDT Focus Taiwan Date: 04/08/2020 By: Su Ssu-yun and Elizabeth Hsu Taipei, April 8 (CNA) A technical cooperation effort between Taiwan and Denmark has produced a testing device for the COVID-19 coronavirus that shows the results in just 12 minutes, but it is still in the clinical trial stage, Taiwan's Ministry of Science and Technology announced Wednesday. The device, dubbed ViroTrack COVID-19 IgM/IgG, was developed by a joint startup BluSense Diagnostics, with funding from Taiwan, the ministry said while unveiling the test kit at a press event. All it requires is one drop of blood (30 ul) from the patient, and the ViroTrack can produce a result within 12 minutes, indicating whether the person is carrying the virus or has recovered from a COVID-19 infection, the ministry said. In an initial clinical trial last week, 15 blood samples were tested at Hvidovre Hospital in Denmark, and performance of the device was 90 percent in terms of both sensitivity and specificity, according to BluSense Diagnostics.    [FULL  STORY]

Virus Outbreak: Three new COVID-19 cases confirmed Posted: 08 Apr 2020 03:14 PM PDT TAKING IT SLOW: Chen Shih-chung said while it would be nice to use a mask or two each day, they are disease prevention resources that must be rationed out carefully Taipei Times Date: Apr 09, 2020 By: Lee I-chia / Staff reporter A pack of masks and accompanying note sent to Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung by a 10-year-old boy are pictured in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Chien Hui-ju, Taipei Times The Central Epidemic Command Center yesterday announced three new COVID-19 cases — two imported and one domestic — bringing the total number of confirmed cases in Taiwan to 379. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that the domestic case, No. 379, is a woman in her 30s who sought treatment at a hospital for a fever and a runny nose on Saturday last week, and tested positive yesterday. While the woman leads a relatively simple life and mainly remains at home, her husband in January traveled to Guangzhou, China, for work and she visited Southeast Asia in early February, Chen said, adding that 21 people who had direct contact with her have been identified and a further contact investigation is under way. Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said that the woman claimed that she usually stays at home and only walks to nearby shopping centers every day.    [FULL  STORY]