Harsher fines for noisy vehicles to take effectSOUND POLLUTION: People who modify their vehicles to generate noise risk having their licenses suspended, while tailgaters would face fines of up to NT$24,000By Shelley Shan / Staff reporterThe Ministry of Transportation and Communications is tomorrow to start enforcing amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例), which stipulate harsher penalties for motorists who repeatedly remove mufflers from their vehicles or engage in dangerous driving behaviors such as tailgating. Stricter penalties would be imposed on motorists who repeatedly remove mufflers or use other methods to produce noise with their vehicles, the ministry said. The camera is designed to enhance road safety by allowing the driver to see what is in the vehicle’s blind spot. The suspension of their vehicle license plates would be extended from three months to six months, it added. Those who repeat the offense within one year of being issued a fine would have their driver’s license suspended for six months, up from three months, it added.

People whose national ID number ends with an even digit should visit wet markets on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, while people whose ID number ends with an odd digit should visit on Mondays, Wednesdays and Sundays, he said. A customer wearing a mask and goggles pays a vendor wearing mask, face shield and gloves at a traditional market in Taipei yesterday. Lin said that it is more important to limit the number of people in wet markets than that in hospitals. Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei TimesSeparately, Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) made a similar call, saying that if the overcrowding continues, the city government will have to shut the wet markets. In Taipei and New Taipei City, the epicenter of a COVID-19 outbreak, residents have been asked to avoid going to wet markets, but a mandatory rule has not been introduced.

COVID-19: CECC to subsidize local test centersSEARCH FOR PATIENTS: Local governments would be offered an equipment subsidy of NT$200,000, as well as NT$500 for each case, in addition to other financial incentivesBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterThe Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday announced subsidies for local governments that set up community-based COVID-19 testing stations, saying that it would also bolster the distribution of essential personal protective equipment (PPE). When choosing locations for testing stations, local governments should consider area case counts, hotspots visited by confirmed cases and areas with higher prevalence of infections, he said. As the local COVID-19 situation is serious, demand for PPEs has greatly increased, Chen said. The center has distributed more than 49 million medical-grade masks and other protective gear to healthcare facilities and local governments this month, he said. In addition to increasing the frequency of PPE deliveries to central government agencies, local governments and healthcare facilities, the CECC would also consider the number of quarantine hotels and confirmed cases, and distribute extra PPEs to local governments accordingly, it said.

COVID-19: People provide free meals to frontline medical personnel to show gratitudeBy Weng Lu-huang and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writerPeople have over the past few days been offering free drinks, snacks and meals to frontline medical personnel to express their gratitude for their hard work amid a surge in local COVID-19 infections. Cardinal Tien Hospital department of public relations director Hsueh Kuei-wen (薛桂文) on Saturday thanked the public on behalf of the New Taipei City hospital, saying the medical personnel have been encouraged by the public support. New Taipei City’s Yonghe District (永和) has been hit hard by the outbreak, but the hospital personnel have remained at their posts, Hsueh said. Separately, Taiwanese companies have made donations to Taipei and New Taipei City governments as medical facilities there have borne the brunt of the outbreak. Hotai Group donated NT$12 million to New Taipei City and Pxmart Co donated NT$10 million through the city’s Web site (https://goodday.ntpc.gov.tw/pwntpc/).

Medigen touts deal with CDC over 5m COVID-19 vaccinesBy Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporterThe Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is to purchase 5 million doses of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine by Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp (高端疫苗), the Hsinchu-based firm said in a regulatory filing yesterday. The procurement agreement also includes a subsequent purchase of up to 5 million more doses, Medigen said. The company did not disclose further details, citing terms agreed with the CDC. A Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp worker handles the company’s experimental COVID-19 vaccine at a laboratory in the Hsinchu Biomedical Science Park on Aug. 30 last year. Photo: CNAThe delivery of the drug, pending approval, would have a positive effect on the firm’s finances and operations, it said.

Another future for Taiwan’s energyInstead of debating current options, the nation should look at other options such as geothermal power and transnational energy gridsBy Michael Turton / Contributing reporterLast week saw two interesting developments in fossil fuels. These landmark developments remind us of the urgency of switching away from fossil fuels to a clean energy future. For Taiwan, geothermal power offers massive advantages over nuclear power. Ramping up geothermal technology and geothermal power investment would enable the island to develop a supercluster of firms that provide geothermal power systems, hardware, software, and power development services. What to do with all that excess energy, and the energy we could be getting from solar thermal and PV systems?

COVID-19: CECC to review effectiveness of level 3 virus alert‘TENSE’ SITUATION: Taipei would today run drills, test simulated scenarios and draft contingency plans to prepare for lockdowns as part of a level 4 virus alertStaff writer, with CNAThe Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) is this weekend reviewing the effectiveness of the level 3 COVID-19 alert and is to report its findings early this week, it said on Friday. The CECC would review the status of the outbreak in the coming days, and would likely report its conclusions to the public tomorrow or Tuesday, Chen said. Relatively few pedestrians and vehicles yesterday cross the normally busy Minquan W Road in Taipei, as restrictions imposed to contain the COVID-19 outbreak remain in effect. He made the remarks after Taipei on Friday announced that it would today hold drills to simulate a situation in which a level 4 alert was issued. “We have managed to flatten the curve in [outbreak hot spot] Wanhua District (萬華), but [the virus] is still slowly spreading in other districts,” he added.

COVID-19: CECC reports 486 coronavirus casesSTILL SPREADING: The daily case counts have not improved much and many cases had visited markets, so people should be especially vigilant, the health minister saidBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterThe Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 320 locally transmitted COVID-19 infections, 166 backlogged cases and 21 deaths. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung displays daily confirmed COVID-19 case figures at a news conference at the Central Epidemic Command Center in Taipei yesterday. Among them, 36 had visited Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), two were linked to a cluster involving hostess teahouses in Wanhua, 158 cases had clear infection sources, while 49 cases had an unclear connection to previous cases and 241 were under investigation. Chuang yesterday said that of the 21 deaths reported yesterday, 19 had underlying health conditions, and of 87 deaths reported since May 11, three had died at home. Asked why one person died on Sunday, but their test result was only reported yesterday, Chuang said that when a person dies of COVID-19, the hospital conducts preliminary contact tracing before reporting the case to the CECC.

COVID-19: More than 42,000 receive vaccinations on FridayGOOD INTENTIONS: Several corporations and religious groups have contacted the CECC to help procure jabs, with one group saying it would donate 500,000 shotsBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterMore than 42,000 people on Friday received a COVID-19 vaccine shot, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, adding that 500 local clinics would become vaccination centers by next month, while 1,000 would offer jabs by August. A traffic police officer receives a COVID-19 vaccination in Tainan on Friday, as 1,300 vaccine doses were made available for the city’s police officers and firefighters. The center has received several offers from corporations or religious groups interested in procuring vaccines for Taiwan, Chen said, adding that the CECC was grateful. “The central government would also be responsible for the overall planning and distribution of the vaccines,” Chen said. Fosun has partnered with BioNTech to market and distribute the vaccine in China, Macau and Hong Kong.

In 1967, the Yujing Farmers Association reported a whopping NT$300 million gross revenue (NT$2 billion today) from Irwin mangoes alone. Cheng Han-chih displays in this 2013 photo a children’s book detailing his life and his efforts to cultivate the Irwin mango. Photo: Liu Wan-chun, Taipei TimesCheng died on June 1, 2018, and his status as the “Father of Taiwan’s Irwin mangoes” was cemented a year later when the Tainan City government installed a plaque on a column in front of his former residence. Irwin mangoes were introduced to Taiwan from Florida in 1954. The commission tasked him with promoting the Irwin mango in 11 areas in southern Taiwan, including Yujing.

CECC reports 297 new domestic casesEMPLOYEE HEALTH: The center said that it ‘agreed in principle’ to allow businesses to use rapid testing to check staff for COVID-19, and would draft recommendationsBy Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporterThe Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 297 new local COVID-19 cases, 258 backlogged cases and 19 deaths. The daily number of local cases over the past two weeks has remained consistent, showing no sign of declining, Chen said. Of the new local cases, 157 are male and 140 are female, with the onset of their symptoms between April 29 and Thursday, Chen said. Photo: CNAOf the 258 backlogged cases, 133 are male and 125 are female, with the onset of their symptoms from May 11 to Thursday, center data showed. Among them, 141 are from New Taipei City, 114 from Taipei, two from Changhua and one from Taoyuan, the data showed.

COVID-19: Outbreak upsets nation’s virus response calculationsAP, TAIPEIFacing Taiwan’s largest COVID-19 outbreak since the pandemic began and looking for rapid virus test kits, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) did what anyone might do: He searched for it online. A police officer, right, is pictured in personal protective equipment at a rapid COVID-19 screening station at New Taipei City’s Losheng (Happy Life) Sanatorium. Experts say that rapid tests are a critical tool in catching the virus in its early days. “You’re basically running against time.”With so few cases, Taiwan had been a bubble of normalcy for most of the pandemic. The government has not encouraged rapid tests, which are quicker and cheaper, but potentially less accurate.

More locally produced children’s shows neededCHILDREN’S RIGHTS: The Control Yuan called for legal changes to require TV stations to produce children’s programs to protect their right to communicationBy Hsieh Chun-lin and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe government should push terrestrial and cable television stations to produce more children’s shows, among other measures, to promote locally made children’s programs, the Control Yuan said on Tuesday. Control Yuan members Lai Ting-ming (賴鼎銘), Fan Sun-lu (范巽綠) and Yeh ta-hua (葉大華) made the recommendations after conducting a probe into government efforts to produce and broadcast children’s shows. Domestically produced children’s programs accounted for 6.53 percent of all such programs on terrestrial channels, 2.29 percent on cable variety channels and 25.63 percent on cable children’s channels, it said. The NCC should spearhead a legislative effort to require terrestrial and cable channels based in Taiwan to produce children’s programs so as to increase their air time and share of domestic shows, it said. Since 2017, various ministries have provided more than NT$200 million (US$7.2 million) in subsidies and capital injections to Public Television Service (PTS) and privately owned media companies to make children’s programs, the report said.

Moderna vaccines touch down in TaoyuanBy Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporterThe government yesterday welcomed the arrival of 150,000 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, the first batch of its order from the US pharmaceutical firm. The first batch of 150,000 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine is unloaded at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday. “We should provide Taiwan with vaccines as soon as possible,” the head of the Liberal Democratic Party’s policy group, Masahisa Sato, told a news briefing following the meeting. “Taiwan has many friends in Japan doing their best to help Taiwan in various ways. Local governments or businesses that intend to apply to import COVID-19 vaccines can ask pharmaceutical firms to submit vaccine rollout plans, instructions, storage and cooling logistics plans, manufacturing authorizations and documents that confirm a vaccine’s commercialization in other countries, the CECC said.

COVID-19: Council plans additional NT$210bn for virus reliefStaff writer, with CNAThe National Development Council (NDC) yesterday detailed a plan to allocate an additional NT$210 billion (US$7.55 billion) budget to the government’s COVID-19 relief fund in the wake of an escalating community spread of the coronavirus in Taiwan. Council Minister Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) told a news conference after a weekly Cabinet meeting that the budget is expected to go toward helping the hardest-hit individuals and industries, as well as providing additional loans to people in need. National Development Council Minister Kung Ming-hsin speaks at a news conference after a weekly Cabinet meeting in Taipei yesterday. The central bank would also offer additional loans of NT$100 billion to small and medium-sized enterprises, bringing the total to NT$400 billion, he said. However, once the COVID-19 pandemic slows down, it is possible that similar packages would again be launched, Lo added.