COVID-19: KMT members jumped vaccine line, DPP saysCUTTING AHEAD: Members of the KMT sowed distrust in the AstraZeneca vaccine, causing public hesitancy to be inoculated, only to get the shots themselves, the DPP saidBy Jason Pan / Staff reporterDemocratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday accused Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members of abusing their “special privileges” to receive COVID-19 vaccinations ahead of schedule. KMT Central Standing Committee member Sean Lien (連勝文) said online that the AstraZeneca vaccine had adverse effects, Lo said. “We later found out that his father, Lien Chan (連戰), had already received the AstraZeneca vaccine,” Lo added. “We see KMT members striving to get their shots. People will not accept line jumping to get jabs through connections and special privilege,” Liu said.

HSBC apology shows HK banking fearsTENSIONS: The bank had announced changes to its terms from July 26, saying that customers might not be able to use online or mobile banking outside of Hong Kong HSBC Holdings PLC apologized to customers in Hong Kong after an update to its online and mobile banking terms stoked fears over overseas access to its services in the territory. The quick mea culpa by Hong Kong’s biggest bank — triggered by a Twitter post — underscores growing concerns in the territory over not only civil society, but also pressures on businesses as China tightens its grip. Banks are trying to navigate an increasingly fraught political environment. The Hong Kong government last week used them as a hammer to shutter the territory’s premier pro-democracy newspaper, the Apple Daily, ordering seven lenders against dealing

COVID-19: CECC to distribute 1.06m Moderna jabsSECOND-DOSE RECIPIENTS: People who got their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine before May 9 should make an appointment to receive their second shotBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterThe Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday announced that 1.06 million doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine are to be delivered to local governments in two batches from Wednesday next week. The lot release testing of 2.74 million Moderna vaccines, including 240,000 doses purchased by Taiwan and 2.5 million doses donated by the US, is expected to be completed tomorrow, it said. “The second batch will be delivered as soon as the local governments have nearly finished administering the first batch,” he said. The second batch would be used to vaccinate about 20 percent of the 65-to-75 age group, the center said. The CECC also urged people who have received their first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine before May 9 to make appointments for receiving the second dose after 10 to 12 weeks, as this would ensure better protection against COVID-19.

COVID-19: Nineteen poultry workers suspected to have virusStaff writer, with CNANineteen workers at a poultry cooperative in New Taipei City are suspected to have COVID-19, the New Taipei City Government said yesterday. The suspected cases were on Friday found in a screening of 523 people working at the cooperative or having visited its premises. Workers at a meat market in New Taipei City’s Shulin District yesterday line up for rapid COVID-19 tests. Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei TimesAmong the 19 suspected cases, two are Taiwanese and 17 were migrant workers, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said. Meanwhile, the city yesterday placed 78 migrant workers who had contact with the suspected cases in quarantine, Hou said.

Rakuten waives non-competition clause with IBFBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterIBF Financial Holdings Co (國票金控) on Thursday said that its Japanese joint-venture partner has agreed to waive a non-competition clause, paving the way for the company to invest in a commercial bank in Taiwan. The partner is Japan-based e-commerce company Rakuten Group Inc, which, through its wholly owned subsidiaries Rakuten Bank and Rakuten Card, set up a virtual bank, Rakuten International Commercial Bank Co (樂天國際商銀), in partnership with IBF. The Tokyo-based Rakuten Bank and Rakuten Card hold a combined 51 percent stake of the Web-only bank, with paid-in capital of NT$10 billion, while IBF holds the remaining 49 percent. The entrance to a branch of Rakuten International Commercial Bank in Taipei is pictured on March 16. IBF chairman Wea Chi-lin (魏啟林) told an investors’ conference in April that acquiring a physical channel would raise the company’s efficiency, and IBF would pursue acquisitions that are good for shareholders’ equity.

COVID-19: More than 10,000 furloughed: ministryStaff writer, with CNAThe number of furloughed workers amid a nationwide level 3 COVID-19 alert increased by more than 3,800 over the past week, bringing the total to 10,229, Ministry of Labor data showed on Thursday. The number of furloughed workers in the lodging, and food and beverage sector rose to 2,864 from 972 on Wednesday last week, the data showed. One-hundred-and-five additional companies in the sector furloughed workers, bringing the total to 175, it showed. The number of furloughed workers in the retail and wholesale sector rose to 1,559 from 944, the data showed. The data on furloughed workers cover only unpaid leave plans that larger companies are required to report to the ministry.

CECC reports 76 new local cases and five deathsPREVENTING WASTE: People over the age of 18 can register to receive leftover vaccine doses that would otherwise be thrown away, the CECC saidBy Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporterThe Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 76 new local COVID-19 cases and five deaths. A worker disinfects Taipei’s Huannan Market yesterday. The CECC has not found a correlation between the deaths and the vaccine, it added. A truck driver shows a negative COVID-19 test result before being allowed to enter Taipei First Fruit and Vegetable Wholesale Market yesterday. Those eligible for the vaccinations would be required to register at designated clinics and hospitals, which would notify them whenever leftover COVID-19 vaccine doses are available, he said.

Toshiba shareholders oust chairman in rare victoryBloombergToshiba Corp shareholders voted to oust Osamu Nagayama as board chairman in a rare triumph for activist investors seeking fundamental reform after years of scandal and allegations of mismanagement. The surprise decision on Nagayama, the 74-year-old outside director some investors opposed publicly, came after a contentious meeting with shareholders that extended for nearly three hours. A staff, left, guides shareholders attending Toshiba Corp’s annual general meeting in Tokyo yesterday. For decades, corporations like Toshiba have been run with what critics say is little regard for the interests of private shareholders. The 139-page document by three independent investigators outlined how Toshiba management allegedly worked hand in hand with public officials in an attempt to sway the outcome of last year’s AGM.

COVID-19: Airline crew, rail ticket rules alteredBy Shelley ShanThe Ministry of Transportation and Communications from Thursday next week is to enforce new COVID-19 prevention measures, including new quarantine requirements for airline cabin crew, while people are to be allowed to book train tickets 30 minutes before boarding. Airline cabin crew walk through a terminal at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Dec. 27 last year. Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei TimesThey are required to take a PCR test on the seventh day and a rapid test on the 14th day, it said. A PCR test would be administered on the fifth day, it said, adding that rapid tests would be conducted on the ninth and 14 days. Those who fail to pick up a ticket three times within one month would not be able to book tickets for one month, it said.

CECC reports 129 domestic COVID-19 cases, six deathsBy Sherry Hsiao and Kayleigh Madjar / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 129 domestic cases of COVID-19, one imported case and six deaths. As of yesterday, Taiwan had recorded 14,389 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 1,167 imported and 13,169 domestic cases, with 605 deaths, CECC data showed. Of the 12,958 confirmed COVID-19 cases recorded from May 11 to Tuesday, 9,288 people, or 71.7 percent, had been released from isolation, the center said. Of the cases recorded after April 20, 2,444 people, or 18.5 percent, had severe pneumonia or acute respiratory distress syndrome, Lo said. More than 1,700 vaccine doses have already been administered at markets run by TAPMC, Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) said.

Ten more autopsies on people who died after receiving COVID-19 vaccinations have been performed, bringing the total completed to 26, Chuang said. Based on the autopsy results, none of the deaths appeared to have been caused by the vaccines, he added. As of yesterday, 178 people — 87 women and 91 men — have died after receiving a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, CECC data showed. As of Wednesday, 1,746,130 COVID-19 vaccine doses had been administered in the nation, including 1,714,268 first doses and 31,862 second doses, the CECC said. The nation’s COVID-19 vaccine coverage was 7.43 percent, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center.

COVID-19: NPP downplays the role of rapid test kits sold in storesBy Shelley Shan / Staff reporterHaving rapid COVID-19 test kits available at stores would not effectively block community spread of the virus, as people might not report the results, the New Power Party (NPP) said yesterday. NPP Legislator Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) hosted an online news conference after the Ministry of Health and Welfare on Saturday last week approved five rapid test kits for sale. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should collect local data to ensure that test results are as accurate as the manufacturers claim, she said. Test results can be skewed if people do not follow the instructions properly or kits were not properly stored, Chien said. “Rapid test kits for COVID-19 are not must-have household items, and test results are more useful in areas with relatively more confirmed cases,” Chien said.

Cryptominers flee China as crackdown intensifiesBloombergBitcoin miners are moving out of China as authorities intensify their crackdown, the heads of some of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges said. There’s big shipments.”Chao said he has seen movement by clients in Binance’s mining pool, which combines the computing power of number-crunching machines that verify cryptocurrency transactions. The hashrate, which measures the processing power used in bitcoin mining and is used as a proxy for mining activity, has also dropped by about 40 percent in the past couple of weeks, data from BTC.com showed. “It’s expensive to move rigs, but it’s not impossible.”China’s state-run Global Times reported that multiple bitcoin miners in China’s Sichuan Province were closed on Sunday as authorities intensified their crackdown. “The decline in hash is probably a short-term phenomenon and evidence of China miners coming offline,” he said in an e-mail.

The Chinese-language United Daily News (UDN) yesterday reported that an FDA expert panel remained largely unchanged from last year to May 6. The KMT caucus has requested transparency in the EUA process to ensure that it is not treated as a mere formality, he said. The meetings on May 6 and May 28 were convened to discuss methods of evaluating vaccine efficacy and whether immunobridging could be used in the EUA process, it said. The second meeting was called to discuss EUA standards in detail, so the scientists involved in clinical trials were not invited, it said, adding that statisticians were sought, as the topic required their expertise. Such meetings inform the agency’s decisions, but are distinct from those held to decide EUA standards, so it was willful misrepresentation by the media, the FDA said.

Retail sales drop amid restricted in-person shoppingBy Angelica Oung and Lisa Wang / Staff reportersRetail sales dropped 5.8 percent sequentially to NT$309.6 billion (US$11.06 billion) last month as shopping malls were hit hard by measures to curb the spread of COVID-19, Ministry of Economic Affairs data showed on Wednesday. On an annual basis, retail sales gained 2.8 percent, the data showed. As people were advised not to go out, e-commerce sales expanded 21.6 percent to NT$24.9 billion, it showed. The downward trend in retail sales is expected to carry into this month, the ministry said, citing a survey it conducted. On a month-on-month basis, wholesale revenue declined 1.8 percent, the ministry said, adding that the downward trend would likely persist this month.