COVID-19: Morticians in Taichung call for vaccine priorityBy Su Chin-feng and Kayleigh Madjar / Staff reporter, with staff writerMorticians in Taichung are urging the city government to prioritize them for COVID-19 vaccines, citing the dangers of handling funerary arrangements for unknown cases. Morticians are not on the priority list for vaccines, the Taichung Civil Affairs Bureau said. A medical worker prepares a vaccine shot at a new rapid testing station in Taichung Municipal Hui-Wen High School on Friday last week, as the Taichung City Government plans to establish 66 more rapid testing stations for COVID-19. Taichung City Councilor Chiu Su-chen (邱素貞) said that many morticians have contacted her and said they fear being infected while handling bodies that are only confirmed to have COVID-19 after death. The fact that they have not been prioritized for vaccines shows that the city has underestimated the risks morticians face, he added.

Number of furloughs exceeds 5,000Staff writer, with CNAThe number of furloughed workers in Taiwan increased by 940 over the past week, bringing the total to 5,065, Ministry of Labor data showed yesterday. A large food manufacturing company placed 840 workers on furlough, accounting for most of the weekly increase, the data showed. Twenty-two businesses initiated furlough programs over the past week, bringing the total to 467, the ministry said. The ministry issues weekly updates on the number of furloughed workers in the nation. Most of the establishments implementing furlough programs are small firms with fewer than 50 employees.

COVID-19: Police warn about new strategies to defraud peopleBy Hsu Kuo-chen and Kayleigh Madjar / Staff reporter, with staff writerScammers have developed new strategies to extract personal information and money amid the COVID-19 outbreak in Taiwan, the Taichung Police Department said on Sunday. The department provided advice to avoid online scams amid a surge in reports of people posing as contact tracing officials or e-commerce platforms. A cellphone displays a text message as a person scans a contact tracing QR code in Taipei on May 23. Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei TimesSome pose as contact tracing officials, messaging targets to tell them that they have been listed as a contact of a confirmed case, it said. Such scams often have prices far below market norms and do not provide contact information, it said.

COVID-19: Subsidies to benefit 7.3m people, Premier Su saysTARGETED FUNDS: One-time subsidies are to go to farmers, self-employed people and families with young children, but calls for a blanket subsidy were dismissedStaff writer, with CNAAt least 7.3 million people in Taiwan will benefit from a fourth round of subsidies the government is issuing to alleviate the impact of COVID-19 restrictions, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday. The legislature is holding an extraordinary session until Friday next week to review a NT$260 billion (US$9.39 billion) relief package proposed by the Cabinet, with Su briefing lawmakers on details of the package yesterday and today. Su said that NT$73.4 billion is for COVID-19 control measures, such as purchasing and developing vaccines and medication. Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei TimesThe remaining NT$186.6 billion is to go to subsidies to individuals and businesses, Su said. The subsidies for individuals, which will benefit an estimated 7.3 million people, include a one-time subsidy of NT$10,000 to NT$30,000 for farmers, fishers, tour guides, taxi drivers and self-employed people, among others, Su said.

Delivery workers need jabs: groupBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterThe Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) should include delivery workers as a priority group for COVID-19 vaccines, as many consumers rely on their services because dining out has been banned across Taiwan, the Digital Economy Association Taiwan said on Monday. Although most delivery platforms or e-commerce providers do not have enough workers to handle the increase in orders, they still try to complete as many as possible, despite the infection risk workers face from coming into contact with so many people, the association said in a statement. Photo: Liu Hsin-te, Taipei TimesIf delivery workers are vaccinated, they can continue to work safely and are less likely to infect others, which would alleviate the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on businesses and reduce consumers’ anxiety, the association added. California and Singapore view delivery personnel as essential workers and have included them in their vaccine priority groups, the association said. Members of the association include Foodpanda Taiwan Co (富胖達), GoShare Taiwan Ltd (睿能數位), Lalamove Taiwan (啦啦快送), Uber Taiwan and Uber Eats Taiwan.

The CECC on May 15 issued the level 3 alert for Taipei and New Taipei City, saying it would last until May 28. Four days later, it expanded the alert to the entire nation before announcing on May 28 that the alert period had been extended to Monday next week. The latest extension was announced following a disease prevention meeting at the Executive Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. A man has his temperature checked at a COVID-19 screening station in Taipei yesterday. Wedding banquets, public funeral ceremonies and religious gatherings are temporarily banned, while religious venues are temporarily closed to the public, Chen said.

In remembrance of Huang Tien-linBy Lu Shih-Hsiang 盧世祥Twenty-one years ago, I telephoned former Presidential Office adviser Huang Tien-lin (黃天麟) to invite him to write an opinion piece for the Chinese-language Economic Daily News. At the time, Huang had just retired as chairman of First Commercial Bank and I had just been hired by the newspaper. Huang later told me that the invitation marked the beginning of a new chapter in his life as a writer. During the 1990s, Huang greatly contributed to the debate over Taiwan’s economic and trade policy toward China, providing concrete research and analysis. During the administration of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), Huang served as a Presidential Office adviser for seven years.

COVID-19: Foxsemicon suspends production for two days after six workers test positiveBy Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporterFoxsemicon Integrated Technology Inc (京鼎精密), a semiconductor manufacturing and inspection equipment maker, yesterday suspended production for two days after six foreign workers tested positive for COVID-19. The entrance of Foxsemicon Integrated Technology Inc headquarters in Miaoli County’s Jhunan Township is pictured on Feb. 16, 2017. Foxsemicon said in the filing that it would start to conduct rapid COVID-19 tests of all its workers in Jhunan today. It is estimated that 470 people (excluding foreign workers) are to take the test initially, the filing showed. The company is a subsidiary of Hon Hai Group (鴻海集團) and headed by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉).

Wanhua, home to the Ximending (西門町) shopping area, is usually one of the most visited parts of Taipei. However, people have been avoiding the district since last month, when a COVID-19 outbreak was discovered there. Now, only local residents can be seen on the streets of Wanhua and they pass by quickly without entering the shops, Taipei Business District and Industrial Confederation chairman Hung Wen-ho (洪文和) said. Traditional shops on Dihua Street (迪化街) are open, but foot traffic has dropped to about 10 percent of normal levels, Dihua Shopping District Development Association chairman Hsu Ching-chi (徐慶棋) said. More than half of the businesses on Yongkang Street in Daan District (大安) have temporarily closed, Dongmen Shopping District Development Association chairman Liu Hung-hsiang (劉鴻翔) said.

Plum rains ease water shortage: MOEATIMELY RAIN: Before the arrival of the seasonal plum rains late last month, the nation had gone almost a year without significant rainfall in catchment areasBy Angelica Oung / Staff reporterTimely plum rains have significantly alleviated a historic water shortage in Taiwan, allowing water restriction measures to be lifted in some areas, while the hardest-hit areas remain on alert, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said yesterday. “Thanks to Tropical Storm Choi-Wan, the sustained plum rains and continued water resource management efforts, the water situation in Taiwan has been greatly alleviated,” Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美華) told an online news conference. As a result of last week’s plum rains, the water level at the reservoir rose to 44 percent of capacity, the Water Resources Agency said. Photo: Wu Chun-feng, Taipei TimesBefore the seasonal plum rains arrived late last month, Taiwan had gone almost a year without significant rainfall in the catchment areas of reservoirs. The water shortage was exacerbated by silt buildup in the nation’s reservoirs, reducing their overall usable capacity, the Water Resources Agency said.

Formosa Plastics Group’s naphtha cracker complex in Yunlin County’s Mailiao Township is pictured in an undated photograph. Formosa Petrochemical last month posted NT$52.93 billion in consolidated sales, up 106.1 percent from a year earlier and up 13.7 percent from a month earlier. Nan Ya Plastics posted NT$34.49 billion in consolidated sales, up 77.6 percent from a year earlier, but down 1.2 percent from a month earlier. Formosa Chemicals & Fibre posted NT$32.14 billion in consolidated sales, up 78.4 percent from a year earlier, but down 2.8 percent from a month earlier. In the first five months of this year, the four companies posted a combined NT$647.54 billion in consolidated sales, up 40.3 percent from a year earlier, FPG data showed.

Traditional markets to be controlled‘DO NOT STAY TOO LONG’: People would be required to provide personal contact information when entering traditional markets, and illegal vendors would be finedBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterThe Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday announced five crowd control measures for traditional and night markets as it reported 335 locally transmitted COVID-19 infections, eight backlogged cases and 36 deaths. The eight backlogged cases are three men and five women aged 20 to 70, Chen said. A police officer standing at the entrance to a traditional market in Taipei yesterday holds a sign urging people to follow disease prevention measures. Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Chuan-neng (林全能) said his ministry has been negotiating with local governments on how to tighten crowd controls at traditional or night markets, adding that they agreed on five measures. “The first would be expanding crowd controls to include roadside vendors around the markets,” he said, adding that business hours and traffic control sections would be clearly designated inside and near the markets.

“Over the past few days, the rainfall [in reservoir catchment areas] has exceeded 100mm. Coupled with other sources of water, such as underground water, underflow water and filtered water sourced from construction sites, we now have enough water for use until the end of July,” Wang said, citing Water Resources Agency data. Rainfall over the past few days has raised the lake’s water level significantly, the Water Resources Agency said. Photo: Hsieh Chieh-yu, Taipei Times“Therefore, we can now stop the water supply restrictions” in these areas, Wang said, while warning that the water shortage is not yet completely over. In Tainan, 25 million tonnes of water was added to Nanhua Reservoir (南化水庫), while a combined 41 million tonnes went into Zengwun Reservoir (曾文水庫) and Wushantou Reservoir (烏山頭水庫), it said.

The government must take full advantage of virus detection technology and available disease prevention staff to “get a handle on” the movements and health conditions of migrant workers, Huang said. Photo: Tsai Cheng-min, Taipei Times“It will also be important to conduct frequent testing on migrant workers, as they share dorm rooms,” he said. Migrant workers are very important to the country’s production capacity, but so far only migrant caretakers who are in contact with elderly Taiwanese are eligible for COVID-19 vaccination, he said. Taoyuan has implemented new guidelines to manage the more than 116,000 migrant workers there, including 25,000 caregivers, he said. Dorms for migrant workers at 652 companies would be inspected, he said.

TSMC expansion to benefit UIS, Yuanta saysBy Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporterUnited Integrated Services Co (UIS, 漢唐集成), which provides electric system integration engineering services, is part of a supply chain that is set to benefit from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) multiyear capacity expansion plans, despite weak sales and earnings growth so far this year, Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) said on Friday. Revenue in the first four months of this year declined 21.94 percent to NT$7.72 billion (US$278.49 million), from NT$9.89 billion a year earlier, UIS data showed. Photo: Grace Hung, Taipei Times“We remain positive on UIS given it has 70 percent to 80 percent order allocation from TSMC for clean room electrical and mechanical engineering services, and is thus a major beneficiary of its capacity expansion,” Yuanta analysts wrote in a research note. UIS helps TSMC build manufacturing facilities, including the chipmaker’s advanced Fab 14, which produces 5-nanometer chips, and Fab 18, which is to begin volume production of 3-nanometer chips in the second half of next year. Apart from orders from TSMC’s new projects, Yuanta analysts said that UIS in the near term would benefit from capacity expansion at US-based DRAM chipmaker Micron Technology Inc’s fab in Taichung’s Houli District (后里) and Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp’s (力積電) fab in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼).