Chains suspend delivery of refrigerated foodStaff writer, with CNASeveral hypermarket and convenience store chains have temporarily suspended deliveries of frozen and chilled products, as delivery service providers face skyrocketing demand amid a COVID-19 outbreak. A T-Cat employee sorts packages outside a delivery truck in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Liao Cheng-hui, Taipei TimesPresident Chain Store Corp (統一超商), which operates the 7-Eleven convenience store chain, said that refrigerated and frozen deliveries by courier service T-Cat (黑貓宅急便) would be suspended through today. The firm also said it would be unable to ensure next-day delivery of uninsured packages through June 14. HCT Logistics said that it would halt cold deliveries to Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan and Hsinchu, as well as nationwide deliveries of products from Hi-Life convenience stores through tomorrow.

Tiananmen event announcedSPURNING SILENCE: A rights advocate said that young Chinese have not learned about the events surrounding the June 4, 1989, protests and Beijing’s crackdownBy Chen Yu-fu and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe New School for Democracy is to hold an online event on Friday to commemorate the 32nd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, the organization said yesterday. “The Chinese Communist Party [CCP] cannot escape responsibility for the Tiananmen Massacre,” the organization told an online news conference, adding that the whole world was part of the resistance against China. “This year marks 32 years since the Tiananmen Massacre, but the CCP has never apologized and has not made reparations to the victims,” Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) said. The CCP still arrests Chinese democracy advocates, including those in Hong Kong and Macau, Hung said. Tibetans were disappointed that the CPP quashed the movement in a bloody crackdown, Tashi said, adding that hopefully many people would join the online event to commemorate the massacre.

They began experiencing symptoms between May 20 and Monday, said Chen, who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center. The 65 backlogged cases comprised 31 males and 34 females who began showing symptoms between May 20 and Sunday, he added. Shoppers wearing face shields visit a traditional market in Taipei yesterday. Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei TimesAmong the 2,849 cases aged 60 or older, 859 people, or 30.2 percent, suffered severe COVID-19 symptoms, Lo said. With the number of backlogged cases dropping to 74 yesterday, Chen said the CECC expects to clear out the remaining cases in the next two days and would no longer report backlogged figures.

Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei TimesForeign media eventually shifted their attention elsewhere, but labor activists have been determined to keep up the pressure. Photo courtesy of Students and Scholars Against Corporate MisbehaviorNeither Foxconn nor Apple responded when asked if they wished to comment on the issues Chan raises. PRESSURED WORKERSAccording to Chan, there are a number of reasons why Foxconn’s managers put so much pressure on their workers. Foxconn saves a considerable additional amount of money because there’s no requirement to enroll interns in state pension and benefits schemes. Our goal is to make the transnational electronics supply chain more transparent, and to give workers more dignity.

The call came after Taoyuan recorded 29 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases on Monday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the city to 475. The city has the third-highest number of confirmed cases in Taiwan, following New Taipei City and Taipei. Bade District Administrator Chiu Jui-chao inspects Danan Market in Taoyuan yesterday. He also said that the number of COVID-19 screening sites in the city would be expanded from 14 to 18 — 11 at hospitals and seven in communities. The Taoyuan City Government has also urged city residents to follow a voluntary ID number-based rotation system to reduce crowding at traditional markets.

Space bill passes its third readingBy Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporterTaiwan’s first space development bill on Monday passed a third reading, empowering the Ministry of Science and Technology to establish a national rocket launch site. The bill would confirm the ministry as the authority to oversee local space activities, including the establishment of a launch venue and approval of launch plans. Compensation that an owner or operator of a launch vehicle would be required to pay is capped at NT$5 billion if a launch were to cause an accident. Questions have been raised over whether the development bill is tailored for space launch services firm Taiwan Innovative Space (TiSPACE) and how it could progress so swiftly after a draft was approved by the Executive Yuan on Feb. 18. Despite some differences between drafts, they all revolved around regulations for launch vehicles, Huang said, denying that the bill is designed for TiSPACE.

Terry Gou has submitted vaccine application: CECCBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterThe Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday confirmed that the Yonglin Foundation had submitted documents, including the substantial information required, to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval to import the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. The CECC on Friday last week released a set of requirements for those who intend to import COVID-19 vaccines. Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou and his wife, Delia Tseng, are pictured holding an application in an undated photograph. Yonglin Foundation founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) wrote on Facebook on Saturday that the group would commission a registered pharmaceutical firm to submit an application to import vaccines along with the required documents. A police officer in New Taipei City receives a COVID-19 vaccine shot yesterday.

COVID-19: Furloughed worker numbers rise amid virus restrictionsStaff writer, with CNAThe number of workers placed on furlough by their employers has increased slightly in the past week amid a nationwide level 3 COVID-19 alert, the Ministry of Labor said yesterday. Ministry data showed that 4,125 employees were on unpaid leave, an increase of 200 from Monday last week. The number of companies implementing unpaid leave programs also rose in the past week, from 414 to 445, the data showed. However, other sectors continue to be severely affected by border controls, particularly support services, transportation, warehouse services and tourism sectors, Huang said. These unpaid leave programs typically last less than three months and involve employees taking five to eight days of unpaid leave per month, the ministry said.

Taishin Financial later announced that it would sell its CHB shares within six years and would not nominate new CHB board members or exercise its voting rights in the state-run bank’s board elections, ending its decades-long management dispute with the Ministry of Finance. The entrance of Taishin Financial Holding Co’s headquarters is pictured in Taipei on May 23, 2019. The commission has reviewed Taishin Financial’s financial profile, and believes the firm’s financial strength should remain sound over the next three years, Tong said. Taishin Financial has promised to retain all Prudential Life Taiwan employees and protect policyholders’ rights, she said, adding that the firm’s board members must endorse its commitments before obtaining formal approval from the FSC. Prudential Life Taiwan would be renamed, he said, adding that Taishin Financial’s appointment of a new management team at the insurer has not been approved by the commission.

Local vehicle sales tumble 9% as buyers stay at homeBy Lisa Wang / Staff reporterNew vehicle sales last month slumped 9.2 percent to 34,403 units from 37,901 units in April as the market took a hit from a nationwide level 3 COVID-19 alert, data compiled by online market researcher U-Car.com showed. In the first five months of this year, new vehicle sales expanded at an annual rate of 15.1 percent to 193,879 units, the data showed. 2, with vehicle sales soaring 29.1 percent to 2,707 units, giving it a market share of 7.9 percent. Ford Lio Ho Motor Co (福特六和) was third with sales shrinking 12.4 percent to 2,139 units, with a market share of 6.2 percent. Strong growth in the first four months would hopefully provide a cushion for the local market, they said.

COVID-19: KMT tells public to take action, call for vaccines‘MOST PRESSING NEED’: The KMT urged the public to join its ‘V-Sign Movement,’ saying that the ‘V’ represents ‘vaccines, vaccination and victory over the pandemic’By Sherry Hsiao / Staff reporterThe Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday asked people to change their Facebook profile pictures to an image with the words “Taiwan Needs Vaccines” as KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) questioned the government’s COVID-19 vaccine policy. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang talks to reporters in Taipei yesterday. Tsai should commit to allowing all Taiwanese to receive the COVID-19 vaccine free of charge, he said. The KMT urged the public to take action, starting by changing their Facebook profile pictures to an image of black text in English and Chinese reading: “Taiwan Needs Vaccines,” on a white background. The KMT on Twitter urged people to join its “V-Sign Movement,” saying that the “V” represents “vaccines, vaccination and victory over the pandemic.”

Plum rain keeps further water restrictions at bayBy Angelica Oung / Staff reporterLast weekend’s plum rain came just in time to stave off further water restrictions, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. For areas under a red alert, weekly water supplies to households and businesses are on for five days and off for two. By the time this plum rain runs its course it would bring more than 100 million tonnes of water to reservoirs nationwide, it said. “We expect this plum rain to linger until Tuesday,” WRA Deputy Director-General Wang Yi-feng (王藝峰) said, citing forecasts by the Central Weather Bureau. It would take another 110mm of rainfall before the red alert is removed for counties in central Taiwan.

COVID-19: Taipei adjusts quarantine measures to free up hospitals for those seriously illBy Cheng Ming-hsiang and Kayleigh Madjar / Staff reporter, with staff writerQuarantining at home after testing positive for COVID-19 in a rapid screening test would be the “new normal,” Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) said yesterday after the city adjusted its quarantine measures to free up medical facilities for COVID-19 patients with serious symptoms. The Taipei Department of Health announced a new set of triage procedures for people who have tested positive for COVID-19 at a rapid screening station. Effective immediately, anyone who is moderately to seriously ill, regardless of age, would be sent to a hospital in an ambulance, the department said. Medical staff operate a COVID-19 rapid screening station outside Taipei City Hospital’s Zhongxiao branch yesterday. Quarantine hotels must accept patients with minor symptoms transferred to them by hospitals, as hospitals must focus on treating more serious cases, she added.

“A foreigner who has established a company in Taiwan, and who pays taxes to Taipei City Government, such as property taxes or license fees, is eligible to apply for help. Taipei City Government offers kindergarten subsidies that foreign children are effectively excluded from because they don’t have and cannot obtain household registration, he points out. According to Fahey, regulations in Taipei and New Taipei make it more difficult for foreign single parents and parents of non-citizen children to enroll their kids in public kindergartens. On its Web site, the European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan described this reform as “a major breakthrough for long-term senior foreign residents of Taipei. It has been achieved thanks to many years of advocacy by the ECCT’s Better Living committees to grant equal treatment to legal foreign residents of Taiwan and the efforts of Taipei City Mayor Ko and officials in the Taipei City Government.”

Taipei Exchange touts bond issueBy Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporterTaiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫銀行), the nation’s largest lender by number of branches, yesterday issued NT$1 billion (US$36.16 million) of sustainability bonds and listed the debt on the Taipei Exchange. The Taipei Exchange, which manages the listing and trading of the bonds, said they are a combination of green and social bonds, which are used to finance projects that bring environmental and socioeconomic benefits. A sign of Taipei Exchange is pictured in Taipei on June 19, 2017. Photo: Chen Rou-chen, Taipei TimesTaiwan Cooperative Bank’s sustainability bonds have a five-year maturity and a fixed coupon rate of 0.4 percent. Other entities that have issued sustainability bonds and listed on the exchange include CTBC Bank (中國信託銀行), Bank SinoPac (永豐銀行), Far Eastern New Century Corp (遠東新世紀), Taipei Fubon Bank (台北富邦銀行) and the Chilean government, it said.