Virus Outbreak: KMT calls for cash grant instead of relief couponsBy Sherry Hsiao / Staff reporterThe government should issue cash handouts instead of coupons as part of its relief and recovery plan for the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said yesterday. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang, right, chairs a meeting of the KMT Central Standing Committee in Taipei yesterday. Local governments have “almost no role” in a NT$60 billion special budget approved by the Legislative Yuan last month, the KMT said. Amid the intensifying calls from the KMT for cash handouts this week, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) on Tuesday said that the effectiveness of distributing cash would not be great. Many of the Executive Yuan’s plans involve giving out cash, Su said.

Virus Outbreak: Taiwanese-Danish firm develops testing deviceBy Yang Mien-chieh and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writerTaiwanese-Danish firm BluSense Diagnostics has developed a device to diagnose COVID-19 with 90 percent certainty within 12 minutes using one drop of blood, and the EU next month could license it for use and it could be available in Taiwan by June. Company president Filippo Bosco and executive vice president Jessie Sun (孫偉芸) yesterday demonstrated the machine at a news conference. A BluSense Diagnostics ViroTrack diagnostic machine adapted to detect antibodies for SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, is displayed at a news conference in Taipei yesterday. The machine last week underwent preliminary clinical tests at the Hvidovre Hospital near Copenhagen, Bosco said. It has been able to identify whether the 15 subjects used in testing were positive or negative for the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, he said.

Virus Outbreak: Domestic travel guidelines outlinedRESTRICTIONS: The public would be warned against visiting popular theme parks if the venues reach their safe capacity, while scenic areas can limit visitor numbersBy Shelley Shan / Staff reporterThe Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday outlined travel guidelines for long weekends to prevent cluster infections of COVID-19 and said that it would officially declare them soon. Others have suggested that the government target 11 popular travel destinations with text messages reminding people to practice social distancing. The ministry and the CECC have jointly stipulated general principles governing the size of crowds in scenic areas, travel destinations and hotels, Chi said. Visitors to indoor facilities would be asked to enter and exit venues from a single point of access, Chi said. As travel destinations are overseen by different government agencies, each agency would have to set its own criteria to regulate the entry of visitors, Chi said.

Authorities shut down ‘largest’ video piracy siteBy Jason Pan / Staff reporterThe Criminal Investigation Bureau has shut down what was reportedly the nation’s top video piracy Web site, 8maple.ru (楓林網), and arrested its two alleged proprietors in Taoyuan. Authorities estimated that the site had infringed on NT$1 billion (US$33.2 million) in copyrights owned by the movie and TV industries. “The site was in 2014 started in Taiwan by the two suspects, who have the expertise as they are software engineers,” Chen said. A bureau investigation found that about 30 million downloads from the site monthly, while the proprietors made about NT$4 million in advertising revenue. The site was reportedly Taiwan’s top site for downloading movies and TV shows for free, and was also popular with people in China and other countries, becoming a prominent international piracy site.

The center has six main strategies to ensure that Taiwan’s healthcare system has sufficient medical capacity, he said. There are four phases in the “expanding capacity for hospitalizing COVID-19 patients” strategy for designated responsive hospitals, Hsueh said. That capacity could expand to 20,985 beds if a widespread local outbreak occurs, Hsueh said. About 1,300 of the 9,932 respirators in the nation are available, and the center expects to increase capacity to about 2,200, he added. Meanwhile, the CECC reported three new cases in Taiwan, all imported.

Tainan’s Singji Temple (興濟宮), for example, held a low-key candle placing ritual Monday night and focused on promoting its artifact exhibition featuring its recently restored door god paintings. BALANCING ACTA copy of the design painted on doors found at Tainan’s Singji Temple. Visitors to Taipei probably will inadvertently see one of Chen Shou-i’s earliest works: the door gods leading to Longshan Temple’s main hall. In 2017, he worked on the door gods from Tainan’s Zonggan Temple (總趕宮) — Chen’s first commission under his own name after his father died. In the worst case for door gods, some artisans sand the entire surface down and simply repaint the images.

Virus Outbreak: Priest thanks Taiwanese for donating NT$120mStaff writer, with CNAFather Giuseppe Didone yesterday issued an open letter thanking Taiwanese for donating NT$120 million (US$3.98 million) in six days to a fundraising campaign he launched to help fight the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy. Didone on Wednesday last week appealed for donations to the Camillian Saint Mary’s Hospital Luodong to purchase emergency medical provisions, including masks and protective gowns, for health workers in Italy. Father Giuseppe Didone in Yilan County yesterday thanks Taiwanese for donating more than NT$120 million to help fight COVID-19 in Italy. “In the last few days, I’ve seen a late-stage cancer patient come to the hospital to make a donation. I’ve seen an old vegetable vendor waiting in line to donate surgical face masks and some of her earnings.

Virus Outbreak: Woman who refused to wear mask on MRT to be finedBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterA woman who refused to wear a mask, but insisted on getting on a Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) train on Sunday, was removed by MRT police and would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. Passengers wearing masks take the Taipei MRT on Monday after the Central Epidemic Command Center last week announced that all public transport commuters must wear masks in the fight against COVID-19. However, on Sunday, a woman without a mask forced her way into Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall MRT Station and got on a train, it said. Station staff contacted the MRT police to intercept her, and she was escorted off the train when it arrived at Zhongshan MRT Station. On Sunday, the CECC added that taxi drivers can reject passengers who refuse to wear masks.

CDFHC gets grace period from FSC in China Life purchaseBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterThe Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday approved a grace period of about 27 months for China Development Financial Holding Corp (CDFHC, 中華開發金控) in its acquisition of China Life Insurance Co (中國人壽). Under the commission’s new requirement, the company must complete the deal before June 13, 2022, when its board members’ terms expire, it said. “We appreciate that the government allowed us to delay fully acquiring China Life and we will act accordingly,” the firm said. “For the sake of the company’s financial stability, we do not want to see it borrow a significant amount of money to close the deal. Raising new capital by issuing new common shares would be a safer option, she said, adding that the company could decide when to begin buying shares from China Life shareholders, she added.

Chiang sees KMT institute as key to attracting talentBy Sherry Hsiao / Staff reporterChinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) yesterday said that he hopes the party’s Institute of Revolutionary Practice could become an “important cradle” for attracting and cultivating party talent. The party must show the public through action, not just words, that it wants to develop new talent, he added. Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei TimesLo, who outlined his three major goals for the institute, which has reverted to its original name from the National Development Institute. However, on Dec. 6 last year, the KMT said it was struggling to pay staff, due to an asset freeze imposed by the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee. The committee said that the KMT had income of NT$420 million in 2018 that had not been frozen.

Death penalty overturned in murderVICTIM’S FAMILY UPSET: The woman’s father said the family would appeal the High Court’s ruling to the Supreme Court and he also planned to sue the city governmentStaff writer, with CNAThe High Court yesterday upheld the conviction of a man found guilty of raping, killing and dismembering a woman in Taipei in 2018, but overturned his death sentence. The father of a murder victim surnamed Kao, right, voices his outrage outside the High Court in Taipei yesterday after the court overturned the death penalty for Chen Po-chien, who was last year convicted of raping, killing and dismembering Kao at the Huashan Grassland in Taipei in June 2018. Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei TimesThe judges also upheld his conviction for the theft, desecration and abandonment of Kao’s body, High Court spokeswoman Lien Yu-chun (連育群) said. Kao’s father told reporters that Chen has never once apologized to the family and has shown no remorse since the gruesome murder. Chen appealed his conviction to the High Court.

King’s Town first-quarter net profit plummets 50%By Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterKing’s Town Bank (京城銀行) on Monday reported that net profit for last quarter halved from a year earlier to NT$894 million (US$29.65 million), curtailed by slowing economic activity and stock investment losses amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The Tainan-based lender saw its lending in the first three months of the year increase 1 percent, a relatively slow pace, as customers turned conservative amid the pandemic. Stock investment losses eroded handling fees and interest income, as the TAIEX dropped 28 percent from January to last month, causing net profit for last month to decline 98.9 percent annually to NT$6 million, King’s Town said. Earnings per share last month were NT$0.01 and totaled NT$0.91 for the January-to-March period, the bank said. The bank aims to keep its net interest margin — a gauge for bank profitability — at 1.74 percent this year, flat from the end of last year, despite the central bank’s rate cut of 25 basis points, Hong said.

Central bank can double funds for SMEs, FSC saysReuters, TAIPEIThe central bank has pledged if required to double the amount of money earmarked to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said yesterday. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) last week said that more money would be made available if that was insufficient, although he did not give details, and said he had personally spoken to banks hoping they could help. Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Wellington Koo speaks at a news conference at the Executive Yuan in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times“The central bank promised that it would offer another NT$200 billion if the initial funding was insufficient,” Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said at a news conference in Taipei. The central bank on March 19 cut its full-year GDP growth forecast to 1.92 percent from a December forecast of 2.57 percent, although some banks expect the economy to shrink this year.

Virus Outbreak: Popular minister inspires pop artBy Liu Hsiao-hsin and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writerA pop-up card designed by illustrator Tonn Hsu (許彤) depicting Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) has become popular on social media. A pop-up card depicting Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung, designed by illustrator Tonn Hsu, is pictured on Sunday in Changhua County. An undated photograph shows latte art featuring the likeness of Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung made by Changhua County cafe owner Chen Ming-hsiung. In Changhua, cafe owner Chen Ming-hsiung (陳明雄) shared images online of his latte art depicting the minister’s likeness. When others saw the photograph of the latte art they immediately recognized it as Chen Shih-chung, he said.

Airlines mull cargo in passenger cabinsNEW CONSIDERATIONS: An airline manager said the idea is tempting, as demand for air cargo is strong, but issues such as training loaders would need to be addressedBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterTaiwanese airlines might repurpose passenger jets to carry cargo in their cabins to offset lost revenue amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Airlines are considering applying to the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) for permission to transport cargo in passenger cabins after StarLux Airlines Co (星宇航空) last month became the first among the nation’s airlines to offer cargo-only flights using the normal cargo holds of its three Airbus SE A321neo passenger jets. “We are considering whether to increase our capacity by putting cargo on passenger seats,” Starlux spokesman Nieh Kuo-wei (聶國維) told the Taipei Times by telephone. They are assessing whether to boost capacity by using passenger seats, with a decision to be made after the CAA provides official documents. The regulator is expected to release documents and guidelines for the safe transportation of cargo in passenger cabins today, CAA Flight Standards Division director Clark Lin (林俊良) said by telephone.