In particular, residents of western and northeastern Taiwan as well as mountainous areas in southern Taiwan should take precautions, forecasters said. Scooter riders get drenched by rain at an intersection in Kaohsiung yesterday. The rainfall was concentrated in Keelung, Taipei and New Taipei City, with Yilan County, Taoyuan and Taichung receiving less rain, Wang said. The water volume at Taoyuan’s Shihmen Reservoir (石門水庫) increased to about 2.28 million cubic meters, or 19.21 percent of capacity, up from 17.26 percent before the rains, it showed. The level at Keelung’s Sinshan Reservoir (新山水庫) rose to 87.47 percent of capacity, the data showed.

Jen, who headed the weather forecasting center at the Central Weather Bureau, made history in 1993 as the nation’s first professional meteorologist to present the weather on the news when he appeared on Taiwan Television (TTV). When the Japanese took over in 1895, they immediately launched weather stations in Taipei, Taichung, Tainan and Hengchun, adding Taitung station five years later. This version of the Taipei Weather Station was used between 1897 and 1937. In 1963, Taiwan set up its first weather radar stations in Hualien and Kaohsiung with UN funding. After a series of deadly storms and floods, the government launched a 10-year program in the late 1970s to revamp the nation’s weather observation capabilities.

Keelung District Court fines man for police baton attackBy Lin Chia-tung and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writerA man who assaulted a driver with a police baton in a traffic altercation must pay NT$2,000 for carrying a banned weapon in his vehicle, the Keelung District Court ruled last month. The man, surnamed Chang (張), 47, was driving along an alley of Keelung’s Renyi Road when the vehicle driven by a man surnamed Chou (周) blocked his way, the court filing showed. Chang approached Chou with the baton, leading to an altercation in which both men were injured, it showed. A Taiwan High Speed Rail security guard displays a baton on a platform in Taipei Railway Station on May 13. A police source said that 31 items on the standard-issue police equipment list are banned for civilian use.

People look at the Pillar of Shame, a monument that commemorates the victims of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, at the University of Hong Kong yesterday. Photo: AFPChow, 37, is one of the vice chairs of the Hong Kong Alliance, which organizes the annual vigil. Police officers escort a woman holding flowers and an electric candle out of Victoria Park in Hong Kong yesterday. Authorities banned this year’s gathering citing the COVID-19 pandemic — although Hong Kong has not recorded an untraceable local transmission in more than a month. Unable to muster en masse, many Hong Kong residents still found other ways to mourn the dead.

Banks reduce business hours amid virus alertBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterSeven banks would reduce their business hours at 40 branches combined to protect their employees and help limit the spread of COVID-19, the banks said. DBS Bank Taiwan (星展台灣) would adjust operating times at seven branches to 9am to 1:30pm from Monday, closing two hours earlier than normal, it said in a statement. The exterior of a DBS Bank Taiwan branch is pictured in Taipei yesterday. E.Sun Commercial Bank (玉山銀行) modified operating hours at one branch in New Taipei City’s Tucheng District (土城) to 10am to 2pm from yesterday, it said. Seven other banks, including Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (彰化銀行), King’s Town Bank (京城銀行) and Taichung Commercial Bank (台中商銀), also announced adjusted branch hours.

DGBAS raises its forecast for GDP growth this yearOUTBREAK DEPENDENT: Private consumption rose 4.66 percent last quarter and might expand 2.75 percent this year, down from a previous estimate of 3.74 percentBy Crystal Hsu / Staff reporterThe Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) yesterday raised its forecast for Taiwan’s GDP growth this year to 5.46 percent, up 0.82 percentage points from its projection in February as the global economic scene grew more favorable for exports and private investment. A COVID-19 outbreak in Taiwan is much worse than last year, but would not affect manufacturing activity or slow the export-focused economy, if it can be brought under control by next quarter, DGBAS Minister Chu Tzer-ming (朱澤民) said. Local steel makers have won extra orders after China introduced a carbon-neutral policy that has caused a global supply crunch, it said. In addition, local firms continue to shift production lines from overseas amid a global supply chain realignment, it said. Securities houses also reaped a windfall as daily turnover in local bourses augmented drastically, thanks to a spike in foreign and retail participants, the DGBAS said.

COVID-19: KMT calls for vaccine policy protest‘BOGUS PAPERWORK’: Minister Chen makes up regulations for groups that want to help with the supply of vaccines, preventing their import to Taiwan, a party official saidBy Shih Hsiao-kuang and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday called on the public to launch nationwide protests against the government’s COVID-19 vaccine policy tomorrow. People should protest at home by taking photographs of themselves holding up signs with the slogan “support healthcare workers, we want vaccines” and post them on Facebook under a hashtag for the protest. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alex Fai yesterday leads members of the KMT legislative caucus in a protest outside the Presidential Office Building in Taipei. Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei TimesAfter medical workers said that this might disrupt their work, the KMT changed its protest call. KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said that even with Japan’s donation of 1.24 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine yesterday, Taiwan still needs more vaccines.

Medigen share price spiral stretches to five daysVACCINE WORRIES: An analyst attributed the company’s declining share price to market corrections and questions over locally developed vaccines against COVID-19By Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterMedigen Vaccine Biologics Corp’s (高端疫苗) share price yesterday plunged by the daily limit of 10 percent for the fifth consecutive day, closing at NT$230.5 amid questions over locally produced COVID-19 vaccines. However, the company’s share price has plummeted by the daily limit since Monday, closing at NT$350 on Monday, NT$315 on Tuesday, NT$284 on Wednesday and NT$256 on Thursday, the data showed. Yesterday’s closing price was down 44.8 percent from its peak last year, although it was still up 137 percent for the year to date, the data showed. In yesterday’s trading, 2.09 million shares changed hands, with foreign institutional investors buying a net 4,867 shares and dealers selling a net 28,000 shares, the data showed. In a telephone call with the Taipei Times, an analyst attributed the falling share price to market corrections and questions over locally developed COVID-19 vaccines.

CECC reports 339 new local COVID-19 infectionsBy Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporterThe Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 339 new local cases of COVID-19, two imported cases, 133 backlogged cases and 21 deaths. Of the new local cases, 170 are male and 169 female, aged younger than five to older than 100, with an onset of symptoms from April 1 to Thursday, the center said. Miaoli County Government staff yesterday spray disinfectant in an area that people who have been confirmed to have COVID-19 have visited. In addition to outbreaks in Taipei and New Taipei City, the CECC is trying to contain an outbreak in Miaoli, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC, told a daily news briefing in Taipei. The company, based in Hsinchu City, has two plants in Miaoli’s Jhunan and Tongluo (銅鑼) townships.

COVID-19: Relief subsidies to workers paid out since yesterdayBy Lee Hsin-fang, Wu Su-wei and Jake Chung / Staff reporters, with staff writerThe first payments of the government’s latest COVID-19 relief funding were wired into residents’ bank accounts at midnight yesterday. NPP Legislator Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) said that businesses in the tourism industry should receive higher relief subsidies. Part-time employees in the service sector should also receive subsidies, she said, adding that currently only those who work full-time in the sector benefit from the program. Chiu said that firms that receive subsidies should be barred from laying off workers, while blue-collar workers should benefit more from relief programs. The Democratic Progressive Party caucus has said that an extraordinary legislative session should be held within the next to weeks, focused on COVID-19 relief funding.

A shipment of 1.24 million doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, donated by Japan, is unloaded yesterday after arriving at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. The text “Taiwan loves Japan” is displayed on Taipei 101 yesterday after Japan sent Taiwan with 1.24 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which arrived in Taiwan yesterday. Originally a regular passenger flight between Tokyo and Taoyuan, the flight was canceled to transport the vaccine doses. “Taiwan always accompanies Japan through pain or agony,” Japanese Representative to Taiwan Hiroyasu Izumi said in a statement in Mandarin. The White House on Thursday detailed its plan to distribute 25 million vaccine doses, the first of 80 million it plans to share worldwide by the end of the month.

Heavy rain causes floods in TaipeiDRENCHED: The heavy rain caused knee-deep floods in several areas, with city officials saying they received 274 damage reports, including 260 caused by floodingBy Kuo An-chia and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, staff writer, with CNAHeavy downpours brought by a plum rain front and approaching Tropical Storm Choi-Wan caused flooding in many parts of Taipei yesterday afternoon. The heavy rain also caused knee-deep flooding in areas around Bojia Elementary School and Muzha Road in Wenshan District, as well as near Zhongxiao E Road in Xinyi District near Zhongxiao Fire Station. A section along Civic Boulevard in Taipei’s Xinyi District is flooded yesterday amid heavy rain. The thundershowers, which began at about noon, came after the Central Weather Bureau issued a heavy or extremely heavy rain warning earlier in the day for 16 cities and counties across the nation. A first grade flooding warning refers to a scenario where one hour of rainfall causes serious flooding in an affected area, whereas a second grade warning suggests serious flooding within three hours, the agency said.

Photo: Chien Hui-ju, Taipei TimesDPP Legislator Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬) said that New Taipei City is talking a lot, but doing little, which shows that it is becoming fatigued from dealing with COVID-19. As of Wednesday, New Taipei City had recorded 3,947 confirmed COVID-19 cases, of which Banciao District (板橋), with 885 cases, is one of the hardest-hit areas in the city, Lo said. It is astonishing to see the official numbers released by the New Taipei City Government, with 218 of 1,032, or 21.12 percent, boroughs deemed hot spots, Lo said. Lo called on the New Taipei City Government to offer tangible measures and concrete instructions to prevent panic. There are 12,000 caregivers working at such centers in New Taipei City, almost double the number in Taipei, Hou said, urging the central government to arrange for inoculations to prevent cluster infections in care facilities.

Household cases hit 40% in Taipei, New Taipei CityBy Chou Hsiang-yun, Chiu Shu-yu, Yang Hsin-hui and Kayleigh Madj / Staff reporters, with staff writerHousehold infections accounted for about 40 percent of the new COVID-19 cases in Taipei and New Taipei City over the past three days, their governments said yesterday, urging people to visit virtually and refrain from going out over the next two weeks. From April 26 to yesterday, there were 4,217 cases in New Taipei City, with 947 in Banciao (板橋) alone, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said, adding that 4,535 people are in home quarantine. New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi convenes a pandemic response meeting at the New Taipei City Emergency Operation Center yesterday. Photo: Weng Yu-huang, Taipei TimesPingsi (平溪), Shuangsi (雙溪) and Wulai (烏來) districts, known for their broad mountainous areas, are the only districts in New Taipei City to have reported no cases, data showed. Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je gives his assessment of the COVID-19 outbreak at the city’s Epidemic Command Center yesterday.

Presale housing market sentiment remains sluggishBy Crystal Hsu / Staff reporterA gauge for buying sentiment in the presale housing market in northern Taiwan last month flashed a “yellow-blue” light, signifying a sluggish market, for the 15th consecutive month, as a surge in locally transmitted COVID-19 inflections chilled transactions, the Chinese-language My Housing Monthly said in a report yesterday. High-rise buildings are Taipei’s Xinyi District are pictured on May 26. Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei TimesThe situation is unlikely to improve this month, and construction of housing projects has slowed due to worsening labor and material shortages, the report said. Presale projects last month totaled more than NT$60 billion (US$2.17 billion), most of which were launched before May 15, it said. Buying interest evaporated from the third week of last month, with more than 50 percent of presale housing reception sites reporting no visitors at all, Ho said.