Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, made the remarks at the CECC’s daily briefing. Medical personnel wait at a COVID-19 testing station in New Taipei City’s Xindian District yesterday. Chuang said that the Keelung resident was tested on Tuesday, meaning they should not have used public transportation until yesterday. People wear masks in a truck in Taipei yesterday. A man jogs in a park in Taipei yesterday.

CECC reports 312 new local casesMAPPING THE SPREAD: Raising alert levels, based on the number of cases reported, also depends on whether it can continue to trace infection sources, the center saidBy Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporterThe Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 312 new local COVID-19 cases and called on local governments to implement disease prevention measures consistent with pandemic alert level 3 guidelines. Next week is crucial to determine whether Taiwan’s measures to contain an accelerating outbreak of the virus centered in Taipei and New Taipei City have been successful, he said. A man yesterday does situps in the exercise area of a park in New Taipei City. Amid a surge of COVID-19 cases, the New Taipei City Government has announced that all 800 park facilities in the city are to be closed until Friday next week. The center yesterday also reported three new imported cases, arrivals from the US, the Philippines and Canada.

However, Taipei CooC-Cloud (台北酷課雲), the city-government approved digital learning platform, crashed on Wednesday due to a surge in traffic. Taipei Municipal Jianguo High School geography teacher Wu Meng-huan conducts a class over the 17Live app in an undated photograph. Wu Meng-huan (吳孟寰), a geography teacher at the all-boys high school, gave his lessons through 17Live. “We also suggested that students not use emojis during online classes,” 17Live said. However, Su denied that the platform is seeking to reshape its image by focusing on online teaching.

People wait to be tested for COVID-19 outside Taipei City Hospital’s Heping branch yesterday. Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei TimesYesterday, the center reported 295 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases — 286 local infections and nine imported cases. Frontline medical personnel rest after being vaccinated against COVID-19 at a hospital in New Taipei City yesterday. Soldiers in protective suits disinfect an MRT station in Taipei yesterday. The volunteer, who took care of retired service dogs, tested positive on Wednesday and was one of the domestic cases announced by the center yesterday, Chang said.

FSC tells firms to postpone annual meetingsUNPRECEDENTED: The move to delay shareholders’ meetings marked the first time the commission had imposed such a measure, but follows discussions with the CECC, it saidBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterThe Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday told publicly traded companies to postpone their annual shareholders’ meetings from Monday next week to the end of next month to curb public gatherings amid a surge in COVID-19 infections. A total of 1,931 companies had planned to convene their shareholders’ meetings during the period, but the FSC has made it mandatory for them to delay the events to July or August, it said. The deadline for the solicitation of proxies for attendance at shareholders’ meetings remains the same, she added. So far, 57 public companies have convened their shareholders’ meetings and another seven are to hold their meetings today, commission data showed. Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Inventec Corp (英業達) are among the firms that announced that they would postpone their annual shareholders’ meetings by two weeks.

Proposal to grant parents pandemic-leave subsidiesBy Chen Yun and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writerLegislators across party lines yesterday proposed an amendment that would grant COVID-19 pandemic-related leave subsidies to parents, potentially totaling up to NT$10 billion (US$357 million). Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Lai Hsiang-ling, left, speaks to the media at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday about proposed amendments granting COVID-19 pandemic-related leave subsidies to parents. The companies’ requests contravene workers’ rights, Lai said, but added that many small and medium-sized firms could not afford to grant their workers special leave. “It highlights the necessity of writing into law the rights of workers to take pandemic-related special leave bolstered by subsidy payments,” Lai said. The bill, signed by 21 legislators across party lines, was sponsored by Lai, TPP Legislator Jang Chyi-lu (張其祿), Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Liu Chien-kuo (劉建國) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔).

Home buyers face higher down payments: reportBy Crystal Hsu / Staff reporterProspective home buyers might have to come up with bigger down payments as local banks become increasingly conservative in issuing housing loans with the central bank warning against lax lending practices, a report by My Housing Monthly said yesterday. New houses in northern Taiwan with loan-to-value ratios (LTVs) of 80 percent dropped to 49 percent of all cases this year, the lowest since 2018 when the property market started to improve, the report said. Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times“The [central bank’s] moral suasion and two waves of selective credit controls appear to have worked, judging from the lending trend,” Ho said. Buyers would have to fork out more money when developers turn over ownership of completed residences, Ho said. Small apartments have been an easy sell over the past few years, while large luxury homes have difficulty finding buyers, it said.

Lawmakers blast Novotel for using ‘Taiwan, China’‘OUTRAGEOUS’: The hotel sparked a public outcry by causing a cluster infection and has reduced Taiwan to a province of China, a lawmaker saidBy Chen Yu-fu / Staff reporterLawmakers on Monday criticized the Novotel Taipei Taoyuan International Airport hotel for listing the nation as “Taiwan, China” on its Web site for online reservations, despite being of a subsidiary of state-run China Airlines Ltd. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Mark Ho (何志偉) said the hotel has crossed the line by listing Taiwan as part of China. “While the packaging on the masks highlighted the message that ‘Taiwan can help,’ it also had the name of the airline, China Airlines, on it. As such, the masks, which were meant to show goodwill from Taiwan, were mistaken as gifts from China,” Lo said. “Now the transit hotel refers to Taiwan as part of China, which would make foreigners think they are in China,” Lo said, adding that most foreigners already have trouble distinguishing between the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China.

Agency announces new water supply curbsBy Angelica Oung / Staff reporterThe Water Resources Agency (WRA) yesterday announced more water restrictions for some areas in Taiwan, with the water supply to Taoyuan and New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口) to be curbed from tomorrow. More curbs would begin in Hsinchu County on June 1 unless exceptionally heavy rainfall occurs next week, the agency said. Photo: Lee Jung-ping, Taipei TimesSo far this month, Hsinchu city and county received less than 10mm of water, Wang added. Science and technology parks that have independent sources of water would not be subject to the supply cuts, the agency said. Nantou County, the southern parts of Changhua County and Yunlin County, and Lienchiang County, would face a nighttime reduction in water pressure, the agency said.

Medigen begins making its vaccineBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterMedigen Vaccine Biologics Corp (高端疫苗) on Tuesday said it has begun manufacturing its experimental COVID-19 vaccine, which it hopes to offer once it obtains an emergency use authorization (EUA). An employee works in a Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp laboratory at the Hsinchu Biomedical Science Park on June 9 last year. Medigen tested three doses of its vaccine — low, medium and high — in the phase 1 trials, with the medium dose showing the best potential, so the phase 2 trials only use the medium dose, he said. Medigen has not found serious adverse reactions or vaccine-associated enhanced diseases among participants in the phase 2 trials, it said. An independent data monitoring committee said that its candidate is safe at a meeting on May 8, Medigen said.

E Ink cautiously upbeat on revenue growth this yearBy Lisa Wang / Staff reporterE Ink Holdings Inc (元太科技), the world’s sole supplier of e-paper displays, yesterday said it was optimistic about revenue growth this year, but tight supplies of display driver ICs and flat-panel displays might cap its sales. Photo: Chen Mei-ying, Taipei TimesCustomer demand is not an issue for E Ink, as demand has greatly exceeded what the company can supply. The company expects capacity to grow multiple-fold after the new expansion plan is completed next year at the earliest. E Ink expects its gross margin to trend down in the following quarters, eroded by price increases in key components. The company expects the alliance’s membership to double to 200 companies next year.

Changes to curb travel for Chungshan workers passBy Wu Su-wei and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, staff writer, with CNAThe Legislative Yuan on Tuesday passed amendments to the Act for the Establishment of the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (國家中山科學研究院設置條例) to impose travel restrictions on institute employees to protect technological secrets, among other changes. If the amendments are promulgated, institute employees would have to obtain permission from authorities before traveling abroad. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Yu-ling speaks at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei on March 9. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Yu-ling (呂玉玲) were among the bipartisan group of lawmakers who proposed the changes to the hiring rules. No gender should be represented by more than 75 percent of performance evaluation personnel, the amendments said.

Prudential has agreed to delay acquisition: TaishinBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterTaishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控) yesterday said it has gained Prudential Financial Inc’s approval to delay its purchase of the US company’s Taiwanese unit as it awaits the Financial Supervisory Commission’s (FSC) approval of the acquisition. “We keep in close contact with the US company and update it about our latest communication with the FSC,” Taishin Financial president Welch Lin (林維俊) told a virtual investors’ conference in Taipei. Lin did not reveal how much additional time Taishin Financial would be granted, saying that it was striving to obtain the FSC’s approval. Taishin Financial Holding Co president Welch Lin is pictured at an investors’ meeting in Taipei in an undated photograph. Taishin Financial reported that its securities unit, Taishin Securities Co (台新證券), has become its second-largest profit contributor, accounting for 9 percent, or NT$394 million, of its total profits last quarter, after its banking arm, Taishin International Bank (台新銀行).

FSC mulls option to delay shareholders’ meetingsPROS AND CONS: The commission said the advantage would be to reduce public gatherings amid a COVID-19 outbreak, but stock-related issues would be delayedBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterPublicly traded companies might be allowed to delay their annual shareholders’ meetings until after next month given a surge in COVID-19 infections in Taiwan, Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) Chairman Thomas Huang (黃天牧) said yesterday. Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Thomas Huang speaks at a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee in Taipei yesterday. Listed companies are required to announce their book closure dates at least 60 days before their shareholder meetings so they can finalize their shareholder rosters. If companies are permitted to delay the meetings to later than next month, they might need to reschedule the book-closure dates, which would also affect shareholders’ interests, Huang said. The commission is also mulling whether companies should be allowed to hold shareholder meetings via videoconferencing, but there are some technical issues.

New free SMS service to bolster contact tracingBy Shelley Shan / Staff reporterThe Executive Yuan yesterday launched a free short message service (SMS) that would boost the government’s contact-tracing efforts without disclosing personal data to third parties. A person entering Taipei Railway Station yesterday shows the free text message function that appears after scanning a QR code. When entering a store or a restaurant, customers simply need to scan the code using a QR code reader on their smartphone, and a link would pop up, she said. People would not have to pay for the text message, Tang said. If people’s mobile phones do not have a QR code reader, they can instead manually type the venue’s identification code in an SMS and send it to 1922, she said.