Hua Nan to help transform Taipei’s Yangming TheaterBy Crystal Hsu / Staff reporterState-run Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀行) last week said that it is teaming up with the 70-year-old Yangming Theater (陽明戲院) in Taipei’s Shilin District (士林) to pursue urban renewal and help it transform into a mixed-use complex. The venture would help enhance Hua Nan Commercial’s environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) rating. Yangming Theater is pictured in Taipei’s Shilin District on Aug. 2, 2019. Photo: Tsai Ya-hua, Taipei TimesThe planned complex would retain the name of Yangming Theater to help people gain a better understanding of its history, Hua Nan Commercial added. Hua Nan Commercial and other listed companies in Taiwan are shoring up their ESG ratings, which serve as an investment guide for shareholders.

COVID-19: Avoid strenuous activity after jabHELPING HAND: Family members and caregivers can help older people by massaging their legs during the two days following vaccination, a doctor saidBy Huang Ming-tang and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writerA Taitung County doctor yesterday advised older people receiving the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to avoid engaging in strenuous activity for a few days following vaccination. They should particularly avoid over-exerting the arm they were vaccinated in, Huang Yi-chun (黃奕竣) said. Medical workers from Shin Kong Memorial Wu Ho-Su Hospital vaccinate people against COVID-19 at the National Taiwan Science Education Center in Taipei’s Shilin District yesterday. People rest for 15 minutes after receiving a dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at a mass vaccination event in New Taipei City yesterday. Family members and caregivers can help older people by massaging their legs during the two days following vaccination to help the blood flow, he said.

CECC reports 132 local cases and eight deathsBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterThe Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 132 cases of locally transmitted COVID-19, and eight deaths. The center has reported fewer than 200 cases for three consecutive days, and the number of cases yesterday was the lowest since a nationwide level 3 COVID-19 alert was issued on May 19. Of the 41 cases reported outside of Taipei and New Taipei City, the infection sources of 33 cases have been identified, while six remain unclear and two are under investigation, Chen said. The eight deaths are three men and five women, who were in their 50s to 90s and had underlying health conditions, CECC data showed. As of Sunday, 249 community testing stations had been set up across the nation, the CECC said.

Kim Forest revenue doubled last monthCOVID-19 TESTING: A spokesman said that the firm can analyze up to 10,000 samples a day, while the maximum number of samples collected in Taipei daily is about 2,000By Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterKim Forest Enterprise Co (金萬林), which focuses on molecular testing, yesterday reported that revenue last month doubled from a year earlier to a record NT$54.04 million (US$1.95 million) as domestic demand for COVID-19 testing rose amid an outbreak in Taiwan. Photo courtesy of Chi Mei Medical CenterAs Kim Forest produces test kits for SARS-CoV-2 — which causes COVID-19 — supplies its own PCR machines and is an agent for foreign-made PCR machines, its labs have ample capacity to facilitate testing, he said. Although the lab entity is not a company, Kim Forest owns it, so could still recognize the revenue into its consolidated figures, he said. “The revenue structure is different from last year, when the main source of revenue was overseas sales of PCR machines,” Yang said. In the first five months of this year, Kim Forest’s cumulative revenue grew 76.43 percent annually to NT$164 million, company data showed.

Manufacturers face orders pressureFUNDAMENTAL CHANGE? Photo: Lee Ya-wen, Taipei TimesExport orders are an indicator of actual exports in the following one to three months. “Manufacturers named business orders and profit declines as the most serious challenges they face, despite clear order visibility in the previous six months,” the survey said, adding that it remains to be seen if the downturn will be short-lived or a fundamental change. Customers at home and abroad have turned cautious about placing orders after virus infections escalated in Taiwan, it said, citing manufacturers of information and communications devices as an example. The federation called on the government to accelerate vaccinations, cut business taxes and make manufacturers eligible for wage subsidy programs as service providers.

In Taipei and New Taipei City, the overall situation seems to be heading in a good direction, he added. A man holds a cat as ceremonial guards march past during the changing of the guard at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei TimesNew Taipei City had the most local infections, with 98 cases, followed by 42 in Taipei, it said. The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care peaked at 435 on June 7, he said. As of yesterday, 389 COVID-19 patients nationwide were in intensive care, he said.

COVID-19: Japanese town’s vaccination strategy to benefit Taiwan seniors from todayStaff writer, with CNATaichung, Kaohsiung and Chiayi County are to adopt a COVID-19 vaccine administration method invented in a town in Japan to make the inoculation process easier for elderly people, the local governments said. Medical workers in Taichung yesterday practice using the “Umi-machi style” COVID-19 vaccine administration method, developed in Umi, a town in Japan’s Fukuoka Prefecture. Volunteers in Chiayi County yesterday hold signs promoting a service to transport elderly people to receive COVID-19 vaccines. Photo courtesy of the Chiayi County Government via CNAKaohsiung plans to administer the shots to its 31,000 residents aged 87 and older, also over a three-day period from today. Vaccination sites would be set up at elementary and secondary schools across the county, it said.

The heightened alert level means schools must remain closed, so cram schools and tutoring centers have had to return tuition fees, one cram school said. A scooter driver on Wednesday last week rides down Nanyang Street in Taipei’s Zhongzheng District, a well-known cram school hub near Taipei Main Station. Taipei alone has 2,593 cram schools and 199 tutoring centers, city data show. The level 3 alert was imposed in Taipei and New Taipei City on May 15 and expanded nationwide four days later. Cram schools and tutoring centers might find it difficult to recruit students after the pupils experienced such an abrupt halt to their studies, they said.

Ministry maintains feed-in tariffs for solar power; developers demand hikeCOSTS INCREASING: The economics ministry said the move aims to counter the effects of the pandemic, but developers said the rates reflected outdated dataBy Lisa Wang / Staff reporterThe Ministry of Economic Affairs is to maintain feed-in tariffs for new solar power installations and grant a three-month grace period for manufacturers to complete their projects, as renewable energy installations have slumped due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The ministry usually holds two meetings each year to review feed-in tariff rates for solar and other renewable energy power developers. A solar power farm operated by Giga Solar Materials Corp is pictured in Tainan’s Syuejia District on March 30, 2018. “To reach the nation’s renewable installation goal and to provide incentives to resume installations, feed-in tariffs are to remain the same,” it said. Solar energy developers urged the ministry to raise feed-in tariffs to reflect higher costs, saying that more solar installation projects would be suspended otherwise, the paper reported.

Car rentals drop as people stay at homeFLEETS IDLED: An industry association called for tax breaks to help struggling car rental firms, some of which could go under if the government does not provide aidBy Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporterThe nation’s car rental industry has experienced a steep drop in business as people cancel travel plans and stay at home following a surge in local COVID-19 infections last month. The slump in business is particularly damaging for some car rental firms and might push them into bankruptcy, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) reported yesterday, citing the Taipei Passenger Car Rental Association. The association has called on the government to suspend vehicle fuel tax and vehicle license tax this year to help car rental companies overcome the difficulties, the newspaper reported. A Carplus Auto Leasing Co worker cleans the interior of a rental car in an undated photograph. Carplus Auto Leasing Corp (格上租車), a unit of Yulon Group (裕隆集團), has seen revenue from its short-term car rental and chauffeur service drop by nearly 70 percent, the Liberty Times reported.

COVID-19: Entertainer raising funds to buy oxygen machinesStaff writer, with CNAEntertainer Jia Yong-jie (賈永婕) yesterday continued distribution of high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) machines, an oxygen supply system used in hospitals, after saying that she had raised enough money to buy 342 units. HFNC systems, which cost NT$270,000 per unit, are highly prized by hospitals, because they can be used instead of ventilators and even perform better, health workers said. Taiwanese entertainer Jia Yong-jie holds a sign that reads: “Unite to defeat the virus” next to donated high-flow nasal cannula machines outside Taipei City Hospital’s Renai Branch yesterday. Jia said she has so far raised enough money to purchase 342 of the machines, which can be used instead of ventilators to treat COVID-19 patients. Jia also encouraged her friends in business circles to work with her to raise funds, quickly raising enough to purchase an additional 237 machines.

PETTY CRACKDOWNSNot to be outdone, local governments also lashed out at the migrant workers. ICRT Central Taiwan reporter Courtney Donovan Smith observed that those two counties have a long history of targeting migrant workers for police harassment and petty crackdowns. Silence, because migrant workers are disposable commodities to them. Remember, whatever happens to migrant workers, can happen to you. Notes from Central Taiwan is a column written by long-term resident Michael Turton, who provides incisive commentary informed by three decades of living in and writing about his adoptive country.

COVID-19: Domestic cases drop below 200 per dayBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterThe Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 174 local COVID-19 infections and 26 deaths. The center also reported 26 deaths due to COVID-19 — 15 men and 11 women who were aged from their 50s to older than 90. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung, who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center, speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday. There were also 181 empty beds in COVID-19 intensive care units in Taipei and New Taipei City hospitals, and 588 additional empty beds nationwide, he said. The number of recovered COVID-19 patients released from isolation has reached about half of the total confirmed cases in Taiwan, Chen said.

COVID-19: FDA approves import plans for home testing kitsStaff writer, with CNAThe importation of two types of COVID-19 home testing kits has been approved, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Saturday. Three companies that applied for a license to import the kits — “SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Self Test Nasal” by Swiss biotechnology firm Roche and “Check It COVID-19 Test Kit” by US firm Lucira — have been granted approval, FDA Medical Devices and Cosmetics Division specialist Lin Hsin-hui (林欣慧) said. Photo: CNAThe FDA is to issue guidelines on how to conduct home testing before the kits enter the market, Lin added. The products require users to swab inside their nose, with Roche’s kit testing for COVID-19 antigens and Lucira’s kit testing for the virus’ nucleic acid, she said. A person is tested for COVID-19 at a testing station in New Taipei City yesterday.

On Friday, 663,100 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, about half of the 1.24 million doses donated by Japan, were distributed to local governments. Medical staff administer a shot of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to a person at a care home in Chiayi County yesterday. Some politicians last week asked why the price of the vaccine candidates by local vaccine makers seemed to be much higher than major vaccines from other countries. Chuang yesterday said that different vaccines are made using different technologies, and the domestically produced ones are protein subunit vaccines. Local vaccine makers are also planning to conduct phase 3 trials in other countries, hoping to obtain international verification, Chuang said.