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The Liberty Times Editorial: Tighten restrictions to fight virus

Almost 43,000 people have been infected with the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) and more than 1,000 have died worldwide. It has hit China even harder than the 2002-2003 SARS epidemic and continues to spread.

Chinese epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan (鍾南山) says that the epidemic has not yet peaked.

The virus spread rapidly from the Chinese city of Wuhan to the rest of Hubei Province and across the nation, and things are heating up in densely populated industrial and commercial centers along the coastal region.

Wenzhou and Hangzhou have been added to the list of locked-down cities, and it seems that once the virus has gotten a foothold, there is no stopping it.

The 2019-nCoV has spread to 28 countries and territories, prompting the WHO to elevate it to a public health emergency of international health concern — preventing its further spread is now the most important global issue at hand.

In 1918, Spanish flu spread across the world, and although international individual and commercial contacts and exchanges were nowhere near what they are today, it still killed tens of millions of people, with estimates ranging from 20 million to 100 million.

With China being the world’s second-largest economy and the high level of globalization, the possible effects of the outbreak must not be underestimated.

Still, the level of international medical standards, public health knowledge and disease prevention has helped governments understand that there are two ways to eliminate the virus: developing a vaccine to prevent infection and treat those who have been infected, and using quarantine measures to prevent the further spread of the virus to minimize its effects.

These are complementary measures that have managed to restrict the spread of Ebola, hantavirus, various strains of avian influenza, SARS and other viruses to thousands or even hundreds of infected, and earlier diseases that caused millions or even tens of millions of deaths have disappeared altogether. There is reason to remain optimistic in the face of the menacing 2019-nCoV outbreak, despite its strength.

However, there have only been limited advances in the development of a vaccine against 2019-nCoV.

Reports that some existing medicines can alleviate the symptoms are purely coincidental and as no conclusion has been reached as to whether they would provide a general treatment, people still have to wait for test results.

The main approach to dealing with the virus has been quarantine and lockdowns that aim to minimize contact between people and prevent viral transmission.

China has locked down Wuhan, Wenzhou, Hangzhou and many other cities; restricted traffic and public gatherings in big cities, such as Shanghai and Beijing; and implemented mask requirements and disinfection measures.

The Chinese government has taken measures to restrict infections of individuals and whole communities. Since the Lunar New Year, these measures have had a negative effect on Chinese consumption and threaten to sever industrial supply chains.

This has had an effect on the Chinese economy, but Beijing has continued to act forcefully. This further emphasizes the dangers posed by the outbreak, as the threat to people’s lives is more important than avoiding a shrinking economy.

Meanwhile, other countries has adopted border controls to keep the virus out. These severe restrictions to international movement amount to isolation of China in an effort to contain the virus and guarantee that it would not become a threat to other populations.

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title: Tax revenue increases 0.4 percent

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The Ministry of Finance yesterday said that it collected NT$155 billion (US$5.15 billion) in taxes last month, a 0.4 percent increase from a year earlier, despite fewer working days.

A major technology firm changing its dividend payout policy and higher securities turnover boosted tax revenue, despite unfavorable seasonal factors, Department of Statistics Deputy Director-General Chen Yu-feng (陳玉豐) said.

Personal income taxes soared 27 percent year-on-year to NT$31.1 billion, while securities transaction taxes gained 9.4 percent to NT$7 billion, the ministry said in a monthly report.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, last year distributed cash dividends on a quarterly basis rather than annually, which boosted the incomes of shareholders last month, Chen said.

Daily average stock turnover last month rose to NT$179.8 billion, increasing from NT$110.7 billion a year earlier on higher volatility as investors adjusted positions amid the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak in China, Chen added.

However, the ministry reported a decline in taxes from commodity sales, foreign trade and property transactions, saying that fewer working days were to blame.

Land value increment taxes fell 32.8 percent annually to NT$6.9 billion, the ministry said.

The decline was caused by the number of taxable cases falling 27.9 percent year-on-year to 43,083, Chen said.

The ministry also revised up the tax revenue for last year to NT$2.47 trillion, up 3.5 percent from 2018 and beating the budget target by the same pace.

Deferred tax revenue of NT$20.8 billion for December last year underpinned the upward revision, the ministry said.

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The Novatek Microelectronics Corp logo is pictured outside the company’s headquarters in Taipei yesterday.Photo: Hung You-fang, Taipei Times
Novatek Microelectronics Corp (聯詠) yesterday said revenue this quarter might grow as much as 1.8 percent from last quarter on the back of rising demand for TV system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions, as the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak has had a limited effect on its business.

Display driver ICs last quarter made up about 70 percent of Novatek’s revenue of NT$16.53 billion (US$549.75 million), said the company, which makes driver ICs for flat-panel displays.

“Our shipments have not been affected by the outbreak, despite inconveniences in transportation,” Novatek president and vice chairman Steven Wang (王守仁) told investors during a teleconference.

“Not all companies in Wuhan are in full operation. Some [customers] have only resumed 60 percent” of their capacity, Wang said.

Wuhan, where the outbreak is believed to have originated, is an important manufacturing site for Chinese flat-panel displays.

The outbreak would have a limited effect on the industry, as flat-panel display manufacturers continued operations during the Lunar New Year holiday, Wang said.

The outbreak’s effect on the supply chain is manageable, he said, adding that the company’s wafer suppliers and IC assembly and testing partners are reallocating capacity to Taiwan from China.

The company expects the outbreak to delay demand for smartphones due to transportation restrictions, rather than scaring off buyers, he said.

China accounts for half of Novatek’s revenue. The company has about 400 employees in China, mostly software developers.

All product development projects are continuing, Novatek said.

“If the outbreak can be well-controlled, the new product [smartphone] launches in April should not be affected,” Wang said.

Novatek expects shipments of its advanced touch controllers with display driver integration (TDDI) to grow annually this year, as most 5G smartphones are to be equipped with OLED screens that come with TDDI.

Worldwide TDDI shipments are expected to expand 18 percent annually to 650 million units from between 550 million and 600 million last year, the company said.

Novatek forecast revenue of NT$15.8 billion to NT$16.8 billion for this quarter.

“TV SoC demand looks quite good, as some customers keep placing orders, while driver IC demand appears flat,” Wang said. “Average selling prices are stable” for both products.

Gross margin is expected to be between 31 and 33 percent this quarter, compared with 32.25 percent last quarter.

Net income declined 12.22 percent annually and 11.25 percent quarterly to NT$1.8 billion last quarter.

Net income last year surged 24.05 percent to NT$7.93 billion from NT$6.39 billion in 2018, while earnings per share jumped from NT$10.5 to NT$13.03.

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title: Novatek upbeat on rising SoC demand


title: State, law must care for all children

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According to documents released by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office, a two-year-old boy starved to death due to the negligence of his mother, who is mentally challenged. The boy’s biological father had abandoned him, his mother’s cohabitant was indifferent to him and he was physically abused by his uncle.

It is beyond imagination that such a tragedy would occur in Taiwan, a nation known for its people’s warmth and where life is pretty good.

The Criminal Code should provide protection for powerless and vulnerable children: Article 271 addresses homicide, Article 276 addresses negligent homicide and Article 294 addresses abandonment.

To convict a person of these offenses requires an objective element, which involves a child’s death or their life being placed in danger, and a subjective element, which requires that the perpetrator is proved to have intentionally caused the death or danger. This threshold is far too high for ensuring the proper protection of children, who rely completely on adults for their care and nurturing.

Even Article 286, which addresses mistreating a minor, only prohibits actions that impair a child’s mental or physical health or development, but does not include abandonment, which would put a child’s basic life needs in danger.

By contrast, Section 170 of the German penal code, which addresses the breach of maintenance obligation, stipulates: “Whoever evades a statutory maintenance obligation so that the necessities of life of the person entitled to maintenance are endangered or would be endangered without the assistance of others incurs a penalty of imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or a fine.”

Under German law, a parent may be punished for endangering a child’s life necessities long before they reach the point where they would have placed the child’s life in danger, let alone causing a child’s death.

In practice, due to the lack of clear legislation, Taiwanese courts have long misused abandonment, which essentially aims to protect the life of “helpless people,” to punish actors who fail to exercise their caregiving obligation.

While this might be jurisprudentially inappropriate, it sheds light on the fact that there is a high degree of agreement in society that people who fail to fulfill the obligation to support, raise or protect should be penalized.

However, to comply with the proportionality principle, courts should refrain from using the Criminal Code to convict people whose failure to meet that obligation is not severe enough to jeopardize the basic daily needs of people who are entitled to care.

Lawmakers should learn from Germany and clearly define breaches of the obligation to support, raise or protect, and emphasize the hazardous consequences. That would clearly distinguish breaches of the obligation to support, raise or protect from abandonment, and allow both offenses to exercise their proper functions.

It would also prevent courts from casually citing abandonment and giving disproportionate punishment to someone who fails to meet the obligation to support, raise or protect, but does not cause injury.

The German civil code also targets biological fathers unwilling to accept the responsibilities of marriage and fatherhood. Section 1615-l2 stipulates that the father must within a certain period take responsibility for supporting the mother by paying her child support, so that she will not find herself in dire straits due to pregnancy, delivery or raising a child alone, which could further jeopardize the child’s interests.

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China home sales plunge 90% in first week of month

‘WORSE THAN SARS’:While people can still buy homes online, showrooms in more than 100 cities remain shut to prevent the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus
Home sales in China have been dealt a huge blow by the spreading 2019 novel coronavirus, with figures showing transactions plunged in the first week of this month.

New apartment sales dropped 90 percent from the same period of last year, according to preliminary data on 36 cities compiled by China Merchants Securities Co (招商證券).

Sales of existing homes plummeted 91 percent in eight cities where data are available.

“The sector is bracing for a worse impact than the 2003 SARS pandemic,” said Bai Yanjun, an analyst at property-consulting firm China Index Holdings Ltd (中指控股). “In 2003, the home market was on a cyclical rise. Now, it’s already reeling from an adjustment.”

China’s property market was already going through a rough patch amid prolonged home-buying curbs, stricter mortgage requirements and cooler buyer sentiment.

While many manufacturing, financial and retail companies got back to work this week, property developers remain largely closed for business.

While people can buy an apartment online, showrooms across more than 100 cities are shut to minimize human-to-human contact.

Shenzhen, now considered a potential new infection hot spot, has banned home sales in every possible form for as long as city authorities have the alert level set at the highest response.

Zhengzhou, a metropolis on the Yellow River in central Henan Province, has restricted all property construction until the middle of next month.

In Beijing, fewer than four units a day were sold last week, according to E-House China Enterprise Holdings Ltd’s (易居中國控股) research institute. Usually, transactions number in the hundreds.

Even if such rules were not in place, there might not be many buyers anyway. Most cities have severely restricted the entrance and exit of people to limit the spread of the virus.

Demand might start picking up again in April, assuming the outbreak is largely under control by that point, China International Capital Corp (中國國際金融) analyst Eric Zhang (張宇) said.

Still, if people’s incomes have also declined because they have not been at work, home-buying plans might be put on hold, Bai said.

The downturn would challenge those developers with poor liquidity, even if the outbreak only crimps sales for several months, S&P Global Ratings said in a note last week, without identifying any firms.

Many count on steady cash flows from home sales as a liquidity lifeline, it said.

“For developers, the biggest challenge is the stress on short-term cash flow,” Bai said. “It’s manageable so far, but the situation may suddenly worsen.”

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title: Virus, China diplomacy dim Singapore Airshow

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People take pictures of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force’s Bayi Aerobatic Team as they perform at the Singapore Airshow yesterday.Photo: AFP
Singapore yesterday opened Asia’s largest aerospace event under heightened scrutiny as thousands of visitors shunned the Singapore Airshow over 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak fears, while all eyes were on a sensitive fly-off between US and Chinese fighters.

Organizers hailed a “strong show of support” as the city-state’s defense and trade ministers inaugurated the event, which is to run through Sunday, with official forecasts of attendance scaled down to 40,000 trade visitors from 45,000 on Sunday.

Officials said they had taken extra precautions including heat-screening of attendees for signs of fever.

However, foreign reporters and delegates estimated well below 10,000 people were attending on the opening day, usually the show’s busiest, and another signature of air shows — big-spending military delegations — was less evident than in the past.

Some spaces where exhibitors, including Chinese plane maker Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (中國商用飛機), had pulled out were turned into “rest areas” or roped off.

More than 70 companies have pulled out of one of Southeast Asia’s top economic events, citing fears over the outbreak.

Those fears have spilled over to broader concerns over demand for aviation, one of the industries most exposed to the outbreak.

UK-based consultancy Ascend by Cirium, which tracks schedule data worldwide, estimated over the weekend that flights involving China had halved compared with normal levels.

“The numbers are even worse this week, more like 60-70 percent down over pre-crisis schedule and changing daily,” head consultant Rob Morris said on Twitter yesterday.

Still, some companies, including European turboprop maker ATR, announced deals at the show.

It said that Papua New Guinea airline PNG Air would become a launch customer for a short take-off and landing version of its ATR 42-600 with an order for three aircraft.

Boeing Co said lessor BBAM LLC had commissioned the plane maker to convert three 737-800 passenger jets to freighters to serve the growing e-commerce market and express air cargo.

The deal is part of a push into the lucrative services sector as Boeing looks to boost margins.

Korean Air Lines Co ordered Pratt & Whitney engines for up to 50 Airbus A321neo jets.

It is also due to enter talks to be part of Pratt’s repair network for other airlines, matching Delta Air Lines Inc and Deutsche Lufthansa AG.

The visual highlight of the show, perhaps the most intriguing in terms of choreography, was the prospect of near-sequential displays by US and Chinese fighters.

It marks a rare sight of an operational J-10 Chinese fighter unit display team sharing the skies with US top-line military jets: the F-22 and F-35 stealth aircraft.

China and the US, which this year signed a “phase one” deal aimed at easing trade tensions between them, have been jostling for influence in Asia.

Singapore has a close military relationship with the US, training regularly with US forces and permanently basing squadrons of its aircraft in the US.

The US takes the F-35B to Singapore a month after it approved sale of 12 jets to the city-state.

“This is a furtherance of our relationship and our bilateral ties with Singapore,” US Department of State Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs Clarke Cooper said.

Last year, Singapore also signed an agreement with China for joint exercises, defense dialogue and logistical cooperation.

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title: Arbitration sought in airport MRT access row

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A Taoyuan Airport MRT train is pictured in an undated photograph.Photo courtesy of Taoyuan Metro Corp
The Railway Bureau yesterday said that it is seeking to settle a dispute with Tokyo-based Marubeni Corp through third-party arbitration over the firm’s alleged failure to fulfill the terms of a contract for the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport Access MRT System.

The Airport MRT Line was launched on March 2, 2017, and approximately 80,000 passengers travel in the system daily.

However, the bureau said that it has yet to conduct a final inspection and acceptance of the project, as its signaling system has yet to meet the standards in the contract.

The Government Procurement Act (政府採購法) stipulates that a contractor should be required, by a notice, to make improvements for any item found not in conformity with the requirements specified in a contract.

Although passengers are able to travel from Taipei Railway Station to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 1 in 35 minutes, the contract states that the travel time must also include a one-minute stop at the New Taipei Industrial Park Station (A3) station for baggage transport, the bureau said.

Taoyuan Metro, the operator of the Airport MRT Line, is only able to operate the service in 35 minutes by delivering luggage by highway transportation, the bureau said, adding that the operator has failed to meet the operating standards by nearly one minute.

The system’s operating speed is not fast enough, it said, adding that in peak hours, the system is able to dispatch a train about every 12 minutes, rather than every 10 minutes.

“We are trying to settle the dispute with Marubeni Corp, the contractor that built the signaling system. If the MRT system fails to dispatch trains every 10 minutes in peak hours, it could still improve the system by raising the number of train sets. How we should settle the dispute will depend on the results of the arbitration,” bureau Director-General Allen Hu (胡湘麟) said.

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Former Nissan Motor Co chairman Carlos Ghosn attends a news conference in Beirut on Jan. 8.Photo: Reuters
Lawyers for former Nissan Motor Co chairman Carlos Ghosn on Monday called for the release of internal Nissan-Mitsubishi documents to determine how and why he was fired before his arrest for financial misconduct.

The request was made on the first day of hearings before a Dutch court that Ghosn initiated to contest what he has said was an illegal dismissal.

After being jailed and then placed under house arrest in Japan, Ghosn last month skipped bail and fled the country, ending up in Lebanon.

The former auto executive is seeking 15 million euros (US$16.37 million) in compensation from Nissan-Mitsubishi, which along with French partner Renault SA is controlled by Dutch-based holding company Renault Nissan BV.

“Naturally, Ghosn contests his firing” under Dutch labor laws, his lawyer Roeland de Mol said after the hearing.

Ghosn believes that internal Nissan-Mitsubishi documents would shed light on the chain of events that led to the group’s loss of confidence in his leadership and the decision to fire him.

De Mol told reporters that lawyers for the Japanese automakers refused “to make public documents on which they based their criticism” of Ghosn, and added: “That is not how it works, certainly not before a Dutch court.”

Lawyers for the Japanese companies are to present their arguments on March 26 in the Amsterdam court and would seek to have Ghosn’s claim dismissed.

Nissan has told reporters that it has already provided a large amount of documentation since the start of the case and accused Ghosn’s legal team of “going fishing without knowing exactly what it is looking for.”

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title: Ghosn demands Nissan-Mitsubishi documents


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Virus Outbreak: Hundreds of tourists hit by Manila’s ban

FLIGHT CANCELATIONS:Malaysia-based AirAsia and three Taiwanese airlines announced changes to their Taiwan-Philippine schedules for the next few weeks
The Philippine government’s announcement late on Monday night banning its nationals from visiting Taiwan and barring Taiwanese tourists from entering that nation have disrupted the travel plans of more than 1,600 people, the Tourism Bureau said yesterday.

The Philippine Civil Aviation Board said that the Feb. 2 presidential directive banning the entry of foreign nationals coming directly from China, Hong Kong, and Macau or those with travel history to those areas in the 14 days preceding their arrival in the Philippines and Philippine nationals from traveling to those areas would now include Taiwan, as Manila has a “one China” policy.

However, the entry ban does not apply to Philippine citizens or holders of permanent resident visas, the board said.

Tourism Bureau statistics showed that, as of 11am yesterday, 542 Taiwanese on group tours were in the Philippines, but the travel ban would affect about 1,680 people booked on group tours between yesterday and Feb. 25.

“Travel agencies said they are in close contact with the airlines to inquire about the changes and cancelation of flights. We have asked them to help tourists change their tickets and ensure they can return home,” the bureau said.

The travel ban meant that 150 Taiwanese headed to Cebu, Boracay, Manila and Puerto Princessa on flights that departed on Monday before the clarification was announced were denied entry to the Philippines and forced to stay overnight at airports before returning to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday.

Many of them complained that the Philippine government should have announced the ban sooner, which would have allowed them time to cancel their trips.

Nearly 400 transit passengers arriving at the Taoyuan airport from Canada and the US and bound for Manila were affected as well.

Only 146 passengers holding Philippine passports or permanent resident visas were allowed to board connecting flights to Manila, airlines said.

Kuala Lumpur-based budget airline AirAsia yesterday said it would cancel all flights between the Philippines and Taiwan for now.

It apologized for the inconvenience and said the details about refunds would be made public as soon as possible.

Taipei-based budget carrier Tigerair Taiwan said that it would continue to operate return flights to Taoyuan from the airports in Boracay, Puerto Prince and Cebu City until Friday to bring back stranded Taiwanese travelers.

However, it canceled its flights to the Philippines from Taiwan from Saturday to March 31, it said.

Tigerair Taiwan said it was also canceling its flights to Macau from today to Feb. 26.

China Airlines said that its flights departing from Taoyuan or Kaohsiung to the Philippines would only accept Philippine citizens and permanent residents, but how those flights would be arranged depended on changes to flight status.

EVA Airways last night said that it would cancel flights BR277 and BR278 between Taipei and Manila from today through Tuesday next week.

Flights between Taipei and Cebu City or Manila would operate as scheduled, it said.

Further announcements would be posted on its Web site in the coronavirus outbreak section, it said.

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title: EDITORIAL: Long way for a Taiwanese Oscar

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As Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite made Oscars history as the first foreign-language film to win the Best Picture award, some may start asking, what about Taiwan? With South Korea opening a new door for Asian cinema on the Western stage, will Taiwanese films ever have a chance to enjoy the same top honor?

Actually, that is getting way ahead of ourselves. Taiwanese need to first ask if they are even proud of their own film industry. The vast majority of moviegoers prefer Western, South Korean and Japanese productions, as evidenced by the scant showtimes allotted to Taiwanese films at local theaters and the empty seats during the screenings. It is quite common to speak to a Taiwanese who has not seen a single Taiwanese film all year.

Taiwan’s arthouse films have enjoyed success on the festival circuit for years, including at the Cannes Film Festival. While the creative merits of those films are indisputable, they are not very accessible to mass audiences. What Taiwan needs is a solid cinematic “superstar” on the level of pop diva Chang Hui-mei (張惠妹), better known as A-mei, that the nation can get behind.

While Taiwanese have been justly proud of director Ang Lee (李安), whose 2000 film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon swept the 2001 award ceremonies, including an Oscar for Best Foreign Film, one of four Oscars it won, his works in recent years have been more Hollywood, less Taiwanese. He had to leave Taiwan to find success.

Look at the situation in China. While its popular productions are primarily directed at domestic audiences and will probably not be winning any Oscars any time soon, its people at least adore them. Big budget Chinese productions that are virtually unknown outside the nation regularly compete with and at times surpass Hollywood productions in Chinese theaters.

This goes without saying in South Korea, as local hit Extreme Job beat out Avengers: Endgame to top last year’s box office sales. Taiwan’s highest grossing domestic film last year, Detention (返校), did not even make it to the top 10.

However, do not blame the industry. The talent seems to be there.

Taiwan has had a slower start than South Korea when it comes to entertainment, and while Koreans have been proud of their distinct culture for centuries, this notion of promoting “Taiwanese-ness” has only emerged in the past three decades or so.

Things are looking up. The quality of Taiwanese productions has improved significantly in the past few years and the government has been pouring more resources into supporting filmmakers.

The appreciation and interest in Taiwanese culture continues to surge and that is evident in all forms of entertainment, from games to comic books to television series. Perhaps it is just a matter of time before it becomes fashionable to go watch a local film.

However, here is the thing that needs balancing — making local films appeal to locals and stand out to foreigners by incorporating distinctly Taiwanese elements, while keeping the themes and the nuances, such as humor, universally appealing, so the films do not seem overly provincial.

There are so many local films that are still chock full of tired and crass Taiwan-specific gags (a good start would be to stop putting gangsters in every mainstream movie unless it relates to the story) that even locals are sick of them.

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TECHNOLOGY

Sony, NTT snub tech show

Two big Japanese companies have become the latest to pull out of a major European technology show due to fears over the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak. Electronics manufacturer Sony Corp and mobile phone carrier NTT DoCoMo Inc on Monday said that they were scrapping their appearances at Mobile World Congress, the world’s biggest mobile industry trade fair, in Barcelona, Spain, this month. Intel Corp and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) have also pulled out of the show. The GSMA, which organizes the gathering, said it is going ahead on Feb. 24 regardless of the cancelations.

HARDWARE

Xerox increases HP offer

Xerox Holdings Corp is to increase its offer price for HP Inc to US$24 a share, boosting the bid by US$2 a share in an effort to win control of the computer hardware maker, which has previously refused to engage in takeover talks because it said the offer was too low. Xerox said in a statement on Monday that it plans to launch a tender offer “on or around March 2” comprised of US$18.40 in cash and 0.149 Xerox shares for each HP share. The offer would not be subject to any conditions related to financing or due diligence. The offer represents a 41 percent premium to HP’s 30-day volume-weighted average trading price of US$17.

AUTOMAKERS

Toyota issues green bond

Toyota Motor Corp borrowed US$2.5 billion through its finance company to help support the sale of clean vehicles, marking the first US corporate green bond deal this year. Toyota Motor Credit Corp sold the debt in three parts, a person with knowledge of the matter said. Only the 10-year security would be green, and it would yield 65 basis points above US Treasuries, after initially discussing in the high 70s-basis point range, the person said. Toyota capped the green portion of the deal at US$750 million, the person said.

AUTOMAKERS

Volvo, Geely mull merger

Sweden’s Volvo Cars Corp and its Chinese owner Geely Holding Group (吉利控股集團) on Monday said that they are considering merging into a single group to better share technology and financial resources while preserving their separate brands. The merged firm “would have the scale, knowledge and resources to be a leader in the ongoing transformation of the automotive industry,” they said in a statement. “The combination would preserve the distinct identity of each of the brands Volvo, Geely, Lynk & Co and Polestar,” they added.

MINERS

AngloGold determines buyer

AngloGold Ashanti Ltd has picked Harmony Gold Mining Co as the buyer for its last remaining South African operations, people familiar with the matter have said. The two companies are finalizing the exact terms of the deal for the Mponeng mine and surface facilities, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private.

SOUTH AFRICA

Eskom tariff bid rejected

State power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd’s urgent bid for larger electricity tariff increases was rejected by the Pretoria High Court on Monday, in a fresh setback for the cash-strapped utility. Eskom lodged an urgent application with the court for a tariff increase of 16.6 percent from April and a rise of 16.7 percent from April next year to compensate for what it said was an error by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa.

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title: World Business Quick Take


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The US Department of Justice on Monday accused four Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) members of stealing the sensitive personal information of about 145 million Americans, in one of the world’s largest-ever data breaches.

The four members of the PLA’s 54th Research Institute were charged with multiple counts of hacking, computer fraud, economic espionage and wire fraud for their alleged involvement in the massive 2017 hacking of credit rating agency Equifax.

US officials said that it took more than a year to track them through the 34 servers in 20 countries they allegedly used to hide their tracks.

The US believes that the suspects — Wu Zhiyong (吳志勇), Wang Qian (王乾), Xu Ke (許可) and Liu Lei (劉磊) — are in China.

“This was an organized and remarkably brazen criminal heist of sensitive information of nearly half of all Americans, as well as the hard work and intellectual property of an American company, by a unit of the Chinese military,” US Attorney General Bill Barr said.

Beijing yesterday firmly rejected the claims, saying that it is a “staunch defender of cybersecurity.”

“The Chinese government and army ... never engage in or participate in activities of trade theft through the Internet,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Geng Shuang (耿爽) told a regular news briefing.

The hack stunned US intelligence officials, following a similar intrusion on the civil service database of the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM), also blamed on the Chinese.

Since then, hotel giant Marriott lost data on about 500 million global customers to hackers believed to be Chinese.

US officials believe the Chinese military and security service are collecting personal data on Americans for strictly intelligence purposes.

After the OPM hack there were worries that Beijing could use the information to identify US spies working under the cover of non-intelligence jobs.

FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich said that there was no evidence yet of the Equifax data having been used, for example to hijack a person’s bank account or credit card.

However, he added: “If you get the personal identifying information of people, you can do a lot with that.”

Atlanta, Georgia-based Equifax is one of three giant, little-regulated credit raters that sweep up financial data on all Americans — their credit cards and banking activity especially — that necessarily comes with identifying data such as their addresses and social security numbers.

The hackers allegedly took advantage of a vulnerability in the Apache Struts software that Equifax had on its systems.

While Apache notified clients of the problem in March 2017, Equifax did not fix it for months, which allowed the hackers to enter its systems with relative ease.

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title: US charges Chinese PLA members over hack


content_text:
SEMICONDUCTORS

Xintec net income hits high

Wafer-level packaging service provider Xintec Inc (精材科技) yesterday reported that its net income for last year was the highest in five years at NT$181.98 million (US$6.05 million), or earnings per share of NT$0.67, compared with a net loss of NT$1.35 billion in 2018. Revenue last year fell 1.3 percent year-on-year to NT$4.65 billion from NT$4.71 billion a year earlier, but gross margin increased to 11.8 percent and operating margin to 5 percent, the company said. This year, Xintec plans to spend US$31.09 million to expand clean rooms and other facilities for testing 12-inch wafers, as customers are consigning testing equipment to the company, it said in a statement.

DISPLAYS

Giantplus’ China units open

Giantplus Technology Co (凌巨), which makes small LCD panels for vehicle displays and handsets, yesterday said that one of its Chinese subsidiaries, Shenzhen Giantplus Optoelectronics Display Co (深圳旭茂光電), obtained approval from the local government to resume operations yesterday afternoon. However, another Chinese subsidiary, Kunshan Giantplus Optronics Display Technology Co (昆山和霖光電), is waiting for permission to reopen, a company regulatory filing said. Heat dissipation module supplier Auras Technology Co (雙鴻) said that its Chinese subsidiaries in Guangzhou and Anhui reopened on Monday, but that its units in Kunshan and Chongqing remained shut.

TECHNOLOGY

Closures to hit Innolux profit

LCD panelmaker Innolux Corp (群創) yesterday said that the delayed opening of its Chinese operations would affect its revenue this month, as its factories in Ningbo, Foshan and Shanghai resumed work on Monday, while its factory in Nanjing is waiting for permission to resume operations. The company said that it has implemented a flexible work schedule to reduce the effects of the closures. Flexible printed circuit board supplier Taiflex Scientific Co (台虹科技) said that its Chinese subsidiaries in Kunshan and Jiangsu are waiting for a notice from the local government to resume work, but a factory in Shenzhen reopened on Monday. Handset keypad supplier Silitech Technology Corp (閎暉) said its Shenzhen subsidiary is scheduled to resume operation on Monday next week.

ELECTRONICS

Holiday affects TPK revenue

Touch module and sensor supplier TPK Holding Co (宸鴻) yesterday reported that revenue last month fell monthly and annually, as the Lunar New Year holiday reduced the number of working days. TPK’s revenue fell 8.3 percent month-on-month and 32.2 percent year-on-year to NT$9.53 billion, a company regulatory filing said. TPK has yet to announce whether its factories in Xiamen and Pingtan, China, have resumed operations since the holiday was extended due to the coronavirus outbreak.

SOFTWARE

Appier board adds director

Appier Inc (沛星互動科技) yesterday said that it has appointed former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) to its board of directors. Having supervised growth and operations at Google’s local unit for 14 years, Chien would be an important contributor to Appier’s business discussions and decisions, the company said in a statement. The company would leverage Chien’s significant industry know-how as well as his experience and expertise in artificial intelligence and the high-tech business, Appier CEO and cofounder Yu Chih-han (游直翰) said.

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title: Taiwan Business Quick Take


content_text:
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said that its board of directors approved a quarterly cash dividend of NT$2.5 per common share.

The decision came after the world’s largest contract chipmaker posted a record-high net profit for the fourth quarter, which equated to earnings per share of NT$4.47.

The chipmaker, which supplies chips for Apple Inc’s iPhones, posted full-year net income of NT$345.26 billion (US$11.48 billion), or earnings per share of NT$13.32, company data showed.

The board also approved the issuance of up to NT$60 billion in unsecured corporate bonds to fund capacity expansion and pollution prevention measures, a company statement said.

The board approved capital appropriations of US$6.74 billion mainly for the construction of advanced fabs, it said.

It also approved NT$46.33 billion in cash bonuses and profit-sharing bonuses for employees for last year, the statement added.

Separately, TSMC said that the board approved Yancey Hai (海英俊) as a nominee for independent director, and appointed Hai to serve on the firm’s compensation committee.

Hai is chairman of Delta Electronics Inc (台達電), the nation’s leading power and thermal solutions provider.

The board’s proposals are subject to shareholder approval at an annual general meeting in Hsinchu on June 9, the company said.

TSMC shares rose 1.22 percent to close at NT$331.5 in Taipei trading.

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title: TSMC board approves cash dividend after record profit


content_text:
The 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak and China’s efforts to stop the spread mean that its economy would grow slower this quarter than first thought, economists have said.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc, UBS Group AG and Macquarie Group Ltd are among those cutting their growth forecast for both the first quarter and the full year, while others expect material shocks to GDP.

China’s real GDP is now forecast to grow 5.8 percent this year, the median result in a Bloomberg survey showed, down from a median of 5.9 percent last month.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) last week told top officials that the country’s efforts to contain the outbreak had gone too far, threatening the country’s economy, days before Beijing rolled out measures to soften the blow, sources said.

After reviewing reports on the outbreak from China’s National Development and Reform Commission and other economic departments, Xi told local officials during a meeting of the Chinese Communist Party’s Politburo Standing Committee on Monday last week that some of the actions taken to contain the virus are harming the economy, two people familiar with the meeting said.

Xi urged them to refrain from “more restrictive measures,” the two people said.

Economists have also slashed South Korea’s growth forecasts as a slowdown in China caused by the outbreak threatens to hit exports of high-tech goods.

Citigroup Inc yesterday cut its estimate for annual GDP growth by 0.3 percentage points, while Goldman Sachs last week lowered forecasts by 0.1 percentage points, citing the coronavirus as the impetus.

The South Korean economy expanded 2 percent last year, the slowest pace since the global financial crisis, as exports sank amid US-China trade tensions. The Bank of Korea projected in November last year that growth would rebound to 2.3 percent this year.

“The Bank of Korea will probably revise down its growth forecast” when it meets later this month for an interest-rate decision, Seoul-based Shinyong Securities Co analyst Cho Yong-gu said.

Citigroup sees South Korea as the third most-vulnerable to a consumption shock in China after Hong Kong and Singapore.

South Korea exports twice as many high-tech goods to China than to the US, with chips accounting for half of the value, the Korea International Trade Association said.

Additional reporting by Reuters

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title: China growth forecasts cut over virus


content_text:
Virus concerns delay trade shows until May

SAFEGUARDING HEALTH:The Taipei Cycle Show and the Taipei International Sporting Goods Show have been postponed until May 14 and 16, TAITRA said
The Taipei Cycle Show is being postponed from next month until May due to concerns over the 2019 novel coronavirus, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會) said yesterday.

Last year’s trade show attracted about 7,000 potential foreign buyers, said the council, one of the event’s organizers.

The Taipei International Sporting Goods Show, planned to take place together with the Taipei Cycle Show, has also been postponed from next month to May 14 and 16, the council said.

The decision to reschedule the trade shows was made after the council consulted with health experts and studied data it had compiled, council president and CEO Walter Yeh (葉明水) told reporters, adding that the outbreak is likely to peak over the next month.

The decision was also taken to improve the nation’s efforts to prevent a local outbreak and safeguard the health of the shows’ exhibitors and visitors, the council said.

The postponement of the shows might cause many exhibitors to cancel plans to showcase their products in Taiwan this year, Yeh said.

However, firms that cancel due to the change in dates would be allowed to change their attendance to next year’s shows, Yeh added.

Due to concerns over the coronavirus, the number of exhibitors at the shows could plunge from an expected 3,800 participants to as low as 1,800, the council said.

Taiwan exported 1.82 million bicycles in the first 11 months of last year, down 0.97 percent from a year earlier, while exports rose 4.42 percent from a year earlier to about NT$41 billion (US$1.36 billion), Ministry of Economic Affairs data showed.

The higher sales value indicates that local bicycle makers produce many highly priced products such as mountain bikes, the ministry said.

Giant Manufacturing Co (巨大機械) is one of the most famous local bicycle brands.

Bicycle component exports for the 11-month period increased 13.3 percent from 2018 to NT$37.2 billion, the ministry said.

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content_text:
Global smartphone production is expected to decline 12 percent annually this quarter, as plant activity is delayed in China due to Beijing’s efforts to contain the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak, market intelligence firm TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said on Monday.

Output is expected to drop to a five-year low of 275 million units, TrendForce said in a report.

Uncertainty about when employees would return to work in China would lead to a delay in the monthly delivery of key components needed in smartphone production, it said.

The import and export of some key components, such as active and passive components, as well as camera modules, would further affect the production of smartphones due to an industry shortage, it added.

The outbreak is not expected to cause an immediate break in the supply chain, as smartphone manufacturers stocked up their inventories before the Lunar New Year holiday and the first quarter is a low season, TrendForce said.

Samsung Electronics Co, whose production is mainly based in Vietnam, is expected to be mostly spared from the outbreak’s effects, the report said.

However, as the company sources some of its components from China, overall production is expected to decline 3 percent to 71.5 million units, compared with a previous forecast of 73.7 million units, it said.

China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) would fare worse, especially following poor sales during the Lunar New Year holiday, TrendForce said.

Having been blacklisted by the US and barred from installing Google Mobile Services on its new models, Huawei is becoming increasingly reliant on its home market, but the outbreak has prompted TrendForce to trim its previous forecast for Huawei by 15 percent to 42.5 million units this quarter, it said.

TrendForce also lowered its output forecasts for other Chinese smartphone vendors, such as Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp (歐珀) and Vivo Communication Technology Co (維沃), as they are equally dependent on domestic demand.

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title: Global server shipments likely to fall 10 percent


title: Huang Kuo-hua fined NT$1,000 for defacing currency

content_text:
By Cheng Shu-ting and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Taiwan Independence Party Chairman Huang Kuo-hua (黃國華) was fined NT$1,000 by the Taoyuan District Court’s summary court on Jan. 30 for destroying New Taiwan dollar bills, the Liberty Times (the sister paper of the Taipei Times) reported on Monday.

Investigators in February last year alleged that Huang had defaced NT$200 bills at his home in Taoyuan’s Jhongli District (中壢) by printing his name, the green “Taiwan nation” flag used by independence advocates and mashadan (馬莎丹) — a name he devised for a proposed currency for an independent Taiwan — on them.

Huang pleaded innocent and told the court that “the Republic of China has no administrative authority on the island of Taiwan.”

Writing on and stamping the currency constituted creating a supplement to the national currency, rather than being an act of destruction, and therefore did not constitute a crime, he said.

However, the judge said Huang had demonstrated an intent to destroy national currency in contravention of the Provisions on Damaging and Duplicating National Currency (妨害國幣懲治條例).

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content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Women sparked panic buying of toilet paper: officials

Three women are under investigation and face likely charges for circulating rumors after their messages led to panic buying of toilet paper nationwide, while a Taipei police official has been punished for leaking information related to the home quarantine of a Taipei resident, officials said yesterday.

The three women allegedly claimed on messaging app Line that the paper pulp used to make toilet paper is also used in the production of masks, which would result in an imminent shortage, as stocks of masks have already been depleted amid a battle to contain the 2019 novel coronavirus, the Criminal Investigation Bureau said.

The messages were quickly disseminated on Line and other social media platforms, which led to a run on toilet paper and paper towels at grocery stores and supermarkets as people began hoarding the items.

Due to the panic buying and shortages in many cities, government officials refuted the rumor in a statement saying that “the ingredients for toilet paper are different from those for producing masks.”

People should not worry and there is no need for hoarding, “as the supply of materials to make toilet paper is at normal levels and there is no shortage,” the Ministry of Justice said in a statement yesterday.

The three suspects were questioned for allegedly circulating the original rumor and they face charges of contravening provisions of Article 63 of the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法), which stipulates penalties for “spreading rumors in a way that is sufficient to undermine public order and peace,” bureau Third Investigation Corps head Hsiao Juei-hao (蕭瑞豪) said.

The suspects are part of a home products direct-sales business group: a 69-year-old woman surnamed Liao (廖) and her two subordinates, both surnamed Chen (陳), aged 40 and 33, Hsiao said.

The trio likely aimed to benefit financially from the rumor, as their wares include toilet paper and paper towels, Hsiao added.

Meanwhile, a Taipei deputy police chief surnamed Liao (廖) received a major demerit and was transferred to another post for leaking the information of a person who was ordered into 14-day home quarantine after returning from a visit to China.

Chinese-language media reported that the deputy chief was stationed at Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖) Police Precinct and that he will likely face charges, as the case has been referred to prosecutors to investigate a breach of the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法).

The deputy chief was reportedly checking on a Taipei resident under home quarantine, one of Taiwan’s confirmed cases of the coronavirus, when he allegedly took photographs of the person’s file, which included their name, home address and other personal information.

He reportedly shared the information on Line with a few friends, one of whom then allegedly posted the data in other groups and on Facebook.

“We must not leak the personal information of people infected with the virus, because that will cause stigmatization and lead to confrontation in society. Then people who should be quarantined will try to hide their health situation. If many people do so, then it will seriously damage efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus,” Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said.

Separately yesterday in Kaohsiung, health officials reported that 84 people had all tested negative for the coronavirus after their 14-day home quarantine ended.

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content_text:
Housing transactions top 300,000, highest in 5 years

Housing transactions last year surpassed 300,000 units nationwide for the first time in five years to reach 300,275, further suggesting a slow, but gradual recovery in the residential property market.

The number of foreclosed homes dropped 2.23 percent to 5,117, affirming a healthy market, which is likely to consolidate this quarter due to unease over the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak, analysts said yesterday.

The housing market last year saw robust growth, despite political and economic uncertainty, REPro Knight Frank researcher Andy Huang (黃舒衛) said, referring to the presidential and legislative elections on Jan. 11, and the US-China trade dispute.

Many analysts have set the bar at 300,000 units as an indicator of a bull market after the government introduced a series of measures to cool the property market.

The pace of recovery was strong even in secondary areas, with Yunlin County reporting a 24.4 percent gain, Chaiyi City posting a 22 percent increase and Nantou County seeing a 15 percent pickup, Huang said.

Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋) said that the foreclosure market is another gauge of the market’s health and a decline in foreclosed homes last year reflects fewer incidences of cash strain among homeowners.

“Fewer houses were foreclosed as homeowners showed better financial planning ability,” Sinyi researcher Tseng Ching-der (曾敬德) said.

The number of inherited and gifted properties also rose as the nation’s population ages rapidly amid a declining birthrate.

The number of inherited houses last year rose 2.42 percent to 57,677, while gifted houses increased 2.16 percent to 43,956, government data showed.

Parents prefer to gift property to their children while they are still alive to save on tax expenses, Tseng said.

However, the rates of inherited and gifted property transfers remain relatively low at 80 percent of the level they were in 2015, when the government raised inheritance and gift taxes from a flat 10 percent rate to a range of 10 to 20 percent, Sinyi said.

Cheng Shin Appraisal Group (正心不動產估價) said the local property market might consolidate this quarter, as the outbreak in China is disrupting business activity.

However, the outbreak might not deal a blow as serious as the 2003 SARS outbreak, because many home buyers now prefer to view properties over the Internet using augmented-virtuality technology, Cheng Shin said.

Borrowing costs also remain low and liquidity is sufficient, the Taichung-based firm said.

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people:
Kolas Yotaka
蘇貞昌
蔡英文

content_text:
Chunghwa Post Co employees at the Taipei Mail Processing Center pack masks before sending them to post offices nationwide.Photo: CNA
Mask supply and demand is gradually reaching a balance, thanks to increased production output, and the government would prioritize mask supplies for paramedics, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said yesterday.

The nation was producing about 4.2 million masks per day as of yesterday, and postal workers were delivering 1.7 million masks to pharmacies and health centers nationwide, Su wrote on Facebook.

Executive Yuan spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka told reporters that thanks to efforts by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, daily mask production increased from 3.2 million masks on Wednesday last week to 4.2 million masks as of yesterday.

However, the amount of masks available for the public to purchase would still be rationed to two per week as the increased supplies are being allocated to paramedics and patients, she said.

Asked by reporters during a visit to Chunghwa Post’s Taipei Mail Processing Center if mask rationing would be extended from Saturday to the end of this month or early next month, the premier said the government is more confident in its ability to ensure sufficient supplies, and it would start prioritizing supplies to paramedics and patients who are most in need of masks.

As the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak in China continues, the government would adjust mask supplies according to the developments, and inform the public of any changes, Su said.

Asked about the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) special relief bill proposing a special budget of NT$50 billion (US$1.66 billion) for relief funds to help industries affected by the outbreak, Su said that the Executive Yuan has not ruled out drafting a special act on relief for epidemics or planning a special budget for such aid.

As for SOS messages President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) written by Taiwanese passengers quarantined aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship off Yokahama, Japan, the premier said that the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan had contacted all 21 Taiwanese on board.

The office would remain in close contact with Tokyo and do its best to provide assistance to those passengers, he said.

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title: Virus Outbreak: Masks for paramedics, patients to be prioritized: Su


content_text:
TAIEX closes above 11,600 after gains in Wall Street

‘BARGAIN-HUNTING’:The electronics sector drove the upturn on the local market, with foreign institutional investors buying a net NT$1.29 billion of local shares
The TAIEX yesterday moved higher to close above 11,600 points as investors picked up large-cap stocks after US markets showed gains overnight.

The bellwether electronics sector drove the upturn on the local market, led by contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電).

The TAIEX ended up 89.97 points, or 0.78 percent, at 11,664.04, on turnover of NT$120.704 billion (US$4.01 billion) on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.

“It remained a liquidity-driven rally today,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang (黃國偉) said, referring to a stronger New Taiwan dollar that continued to attract foreign funds.

“As US markets performed well, investors here left behind their worry over the Wuhan virus and went bargain-hunting,” he said, referring to the 2019 novel coronavirus.

Huang said tech stocks remained the favorites of many investors.

Foreign institutional investors bought a net NT$1.29 billion of local shares yesterday, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.

“TSMC was highlighted on the main board after it reported strong sales for January, which showed it was not affected by the slow season in the first quarter,” Huang said.

On Monday, TSMC reported consolidated sales of NT$103.68 billion for last month, up 0.4 percent from a month earlier.

TSMC shares rose 1.22 percent to close at NT$331.5, IC designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) shares gained 2.63 percent to NT$390, while those of iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) rose 1.10 percent to NT$82.9.

Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控) rose 2.05 percent to end at NT$9.94, Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) added 1.88 percent to NT$46 and Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) gained 1.83 percent to NT$41.65.

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content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Expert urges authorities to use stricter fever standard

Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung yesterday at a news conference in Taipei announces the extension of a level 3 "do not visit" travel advisory for China, Hong Kong and Macau.Photo: CNA
A department head at National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) has advised the Central Epidemic Command Center to apply stricter standards when determining whether people have a fever, amid the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus that has been declared a global public heath emergency.

The center should update the traditional fever threshold of 38°C used by most health units in the nation to 37.4°C, Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine director Su Ta-chen (蘇大成) told a news conference in Taipei on Monday.

The disease causes fever in about 99 percent of people who become infected, including 20 percent of patients whose body temperatures range from 37.3°C to 38°C, Su said.

According to research published in 2017 in the peer-reviewed weekly medical journal BMJ, a normal body temperature should be about 36.6°C, while another medical paper published in the US earlier this year suggested 36.4°C, he said.

“We used to think that 38°C indicated a fever, because we believed 37°C was a normal body temperature,” Su said.

As such, if one more degree is added to a normal body temperature to determine a fever, then with the new findings 37.4°C indicates a fever, he said, adding that many places in China are now using 37.4°C as a benchmark for quarantine.

“I am not sure why they use 37.4°C to indicate a fever in Wuhan and in many other provinces in China,” Su said. “As we are located so geographically close to China, should we not be aware and adapt a more stringent approach toward what indicates a fever?”

His comments came just one day after Taiwan recorded its first asymptomatic patient confirmed to be infected with the virus.

A fever is a critical symptom of the acute respiratory disease and revising the standards should be seriously considered by the government, said Chan Chang-chuan (詹長權), dean of National Taiwan University’s College of Public Health, which organized the news conference.

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people: 張其祿 邱臣遠 賴香伶

content_text:
Virus Outbreak: TPP caucus criticizes compensation plan and leave proposal

Taiwan People’s Party caucus whip Lai Hsiang-lin, center, holds a news conference with other caucus members yesterday at the Legislative Yuan.Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Relief funds to compensate industries’ losses due to the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak should be allocated by increasing the budget for central government agencies rather than planning a special budget, the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) caucus said yesterday.

This way, such funds would undergo proper legislative scrutiny, as special budgets are often underused and are more difficult for legislators to scrutinize, TPP Legislator Jang Chyi-lu (張其祿) told a news conference in Taipei.

The government allocated a special budget of NT$50 billion (US$1.66 billion at the current exchange rate) to help industries affected by the 2002-2003 SARS outbreak, but only about NT$28 billion was used, which showed that special budgets are often superfluous, he said.

The Disaster Prevention Act (災害防救法) stipulates that companies whose operations have been affected by biological disasters and other types of disasters are eligible to receive relief funds, which indicates that the issue is covered by existing law, Jang said.

Whether the 2019-nCoV outbreak would evolve into a major disaster that warrants relief funds remains to be seen, he said.

If a special relief act is passed, the agencies in charge of assessing the budget’s efficacy should report to the legislature, he said.

TPP Legislator Chiu Chen-yuan (邱臣遠) said that small and medium-sized enterprises have been hardest hit by the outbreak and should be given precedence for relief funds.

TPP caucus whip Lai Hsiang-ling (賴香伶) said the caucus would not sponsor a special relief bill, as it believes the Executive Yuan should be responsible for that, as well as any relief plans.

As for home quarantine and reported breaches, such breeches might be avoided if those quarantined are provided with allowances so they can be financially stable during the two-week period, she said.

Lai, a former Taipei Department of Labor commissioner, also criticized the Ministry of Labor’s “disease prevention care leave” proposal, which she called an extempore measure that lacks a legal basis.

Amending the Act of Gender Equality in Employment (性別工作平等法), which covers parental leave, to include provisions on disease prevention care leave, would be better, as it would involve both parents taking leave, she said.

Although the ministry’s leave plan appears to lack a legal basis, it should be legalized before another outbreak occurs, she added.

As for working with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators during cross-caucus negotiations over relief measures and disease prevention leave, Lai said the TPP caucus would explore such possibilities when it meets with the KMT caucus on Friday.

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people: 黃珊珊 陳時中

content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Foreigner fined over quarantine

HARMONIOUS SOCIETY:Chen Shih-chung said that everyone must cooperate on disease prevention and avoid a negative attitude toward quarantined people
Firefighters simulate providing emergency care for patients of the 2019 novel coronavirus in a training exercise in Penghu County yesterday.Photo courtesy of Penghu County Fire Department via CNA
A foreigner has been fined NT$10,000 for breaching a mandatory home quarantine ordered to reduce the risk of a local 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak, the fifth person fined for arbitrarily leaving their quarantine location in the city, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday.

The man traveled from China’s Guangdong Province and arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Monday last week, when he was placed on a 14-day home quarantine in his hotel room, Disease Control Division head Yu Tsan-hua (余燦華) said.

However, the hotel reported that the man left his room on Saturday evening, when he was reportedly a little emotionally unstable, and went to smoke a cigarette in the stairwell for about six minutes, she said.

The Communicable Disease Control Act (傳染病防治法) stipulates that people who enter Taiwan from disease-affected areas, or have had or might have had contact with patients or suspected patients, can be placed under home quarantine, concentrated quarantine, isolated care or other necessary measures.

A fine of between NT$10,000 and NT$150,000 can be imposed for breaching the act, Yu said, adding that in addition to the foreigner, four Taiwanese have been fined for breaching home isolation and quarantine measures.

Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) on Monday afternoon said that the city government has simplified the penalty procedure, allowing the department to impose such fines more efficiently and enforce the law more strictly.

In Taipei, there were 113 people placed in home isolation and 573 in home quarantine as of Monday, she said, adding that four reported experiencing symptoms.

However, there were also six people under home quarantine who cannot be contacted by officials, Huang said, adding that the city government has reported the cases to the National Police Agency.

Asked about a debate regarding whether to publicize confirmed patients’ information, she said that their personal data is protected by the act.

As no one wants to be infected or transmit diseases to other people, the city government believes that everyone who has had direct contact with infected patients would adhere to the home quarantine orders, she added.

On Monday afternoon, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said at the Central Epidemic Command Center that if the public has a negative attitude toward infected patients or people under home quarantine, more people might try to hide their symptoms, which would be harmful not only for them and society, but also the government’s disease prevention efforts.

Effective disease prevention relies on everyone’s cooperation, said Chen, who also heads the center.

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Virus Outbreak: Residents evacuated from Hong Kong apartments

A resident wearing a mask walks past a police officer in a protective suit outside Hong Mei House in Hong Kong yesterday.Photo: EPA-EFE

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Five Hong Kongers evacuated from a residential building where a man and woman were confirmed to have the 2019 novel coronavirus tested negative for the virus, health authorities said yesterday, easing concerns of a cluster of the outbreak in the territory.

The five people were exhibiting flu-like symptoms earlier. They remain in quarantine together with 200-plus residents who were evacuated from the building in Tsing Yi District in the New Territories in the early hours.

The evacuation occurred after a 62-year-old woman on Monday became the second confirmed case in the building, Hong Mei House, after a 75-year-old man tested positive on Jan. 30. The two live on different floors.

Initial investigations into the drainage system in the building further reduced concerns that the virus might have spread through the pipes, authorities said.

The flat where the latest infection was discovered had had an alteration to its drainage system, but the pipe network in the public building was in good condition, they said.

Parts of Hong Kong, including restaurants, shopping malls and cafes, are almost deserted as people work from home and schools remain closed, evoking memories of 2003 when SARS sent panic across the territory.

In 2003, initial exposure was blamed on high concentrations of the virus entering apartment bathrooms through floor drains in a complex called Amoy Gardens.

“The pipe design in the building is very good and even better than in many private properties, and it is definitely not the same situation as Amoy Garden,” Yuen Kwok-yung, chair of Infectious Diseases at the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine’s Department of Microbiology, told reporters.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) earlier yesterday appealed for residents to stay indoors as much as possible.

“As part and parcel of enhancing social distancing we are making an appeal to the people of Hong Kong to stay at home as much as possible, but at the moment, we’re making this appeal, we’re not going for compulsory closures because Hong Kong is a free society,” Lam told reporters.

Hong Kong has confirmed 49 cases of the coronavirus.

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The Central Epidemic Control Center (CECC) yesterday raised its travel advisory for Hong Kong and Macau to the highest level, urging people to “avoid nonessential travel” to the territories.

It also announced six conditions for Chinese to extend their stays in Taiwan, and said that it would allow Chinese children of Taiwanese and Chinese couples to enter Taiwan under special circumstances.

Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), head of the center, said there have been confirmed cases of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) with an unspecified infection source, as well as clustered cases, in Hong Kong.

The center raised its travel advisory for Singapore to level 2 — “practice enhanced precautions” — as more than half of the confirmed cases there were indigenous cases and a cluster was traced to a business meeting in Singapore, Chen said.

The city-state has many free-trade zones with high trading volumes and 45 cases have been confirmed in a population of about 5.6 million people, which might suggest a higher risk of infection, he added.

The center also issued a level 1 travel advisory — “practice usual precautions” — for Thailand, as confirmed cases with an unspecified infection source have been reported there and the country has not taken border control measures against visitors from China.

“There is a high risk of infection on airplanes, so we advise people to avoid taking unnecessary flights,” Chen said. “If travel is unavoidable, they should wear a mask throughout the flight.”

Starting today, Chinese visiting Taiwan may extend their stays for 15 days under six conditions, with each application to be evaluated by the National Immigration Agency (NIA), Mainland Affairs Council Department of Legal Affairs head Tsai Ji-ru (蔡志儒) said.

People with business contracts to fulfill in Taiwan, employees of multinational corporations who have been transferred, people on investment or management programs, expatriates, people joining family and those who are on short-term visas to visit relatives can apply for an extension.

NIA Entry and Exit Affairs Division Director Ko Kuang-wei (葛廣薇) said that the applications must be made in person at NIA service stations, and a fee of NT$300 would be charged for each application.

There are about 10,000 people who meet the conditions, Ko added.

As Chinese have been temporarily banned from entering Taiwan, exceptions would be made for Chinese minor children of Taiwanese and Chinese couples, Tsai said.

However, the children must have an Alien Resident Certificate or a long-term visa for visiting family or relatives, Tsai said, adding that the children would be placed in home quarantine for 14 days after arriving in Taiwan.

The CECC said that there were 95 reported cases of severe pneumonia with unknown pathogens nationwide on Monday.

There were a total of 1,617 reports, including 18 people confirmed with 2019-nCoV, and 1,445 people who tested negative, with the rest remaining under quarantine for testing, the center said.

A total of 383 people who had come into contact with confirmed cases are still under home isolation, including 13 people with symptoms, of whom 11 tested negative and two were awaiting results, it said.

Four evacuees who arrived in Taiwan on a charter flight from Wuhan are still in isolation rooms for further testing, the center added.

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title: Virus Outbreak: Highest alert issued for HK, Macau


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Virus Outbreak: MOFA working to fix Philippine ban

TRAVEL SNARL:The Philippine undersecretary for health said he included Taiwan in the ban because Taiwan is considered a part of China by the WHO
Taiwanese sleep overnight at an airport in the Philippines on Monday after the Philippine government imposed a travel ban on Taiwanese visitors to the country due to the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak.Photo courtesy of a Taiwanese passenger via CNA
The Philippines’ decision to include Taiwan in its travel ban on Chinese visitors due to the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) was made unilaterally by the Philippine Department of Health, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, adding that Taipei is communicating with the Manila to correct the mistake.

Philippine Undersecretary of Health Eric Domingo on Monday said that Taiwan is included in its temporary travel ban on visitors from China, Hong Kong and Macau, given that Taiwan is considered part of China by the WHO.

When the ban was first announced last week, it did not mention Taiwan.

Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) Chairman and Resident Representative Angelito Banayo said in a message sent to MOFA later on Monday that “the statement made by Health Undersecretary Dr Eric Domingo is not an official position.”

A meeting on 2019-nCoV with the Bureau of Immigration, the Department of Foreign Affairs and other agencies was scheduled for this morning so that a decision could be made, Banayo said.

“Meantime, immigration on the ground is not banning Taiwanese entry. My apologies for the confusing statements,” he said.

Nonetheless, nearly 150 Taiwanese tourists were denied entry into the Philippines after they arrived at airports in Cebu, Kalibo and Manila, local media reported yesterday.

The decision to bar Taiwanese was unilaterally made by the Philippine Department of Health, which on Monday night told the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines to deny Taiwanese entry, effective immediately, MOFA spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) told a news briefing in Taipei yesterday.

The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines and MECO are clarifying the matter with the Philippine Presidential Office and Department of Foreign Affairs, she said.

The confusion results from inconsistencies among the Philippines’ different government agencies, she added.

“The pressure from China always exists,” Ou said, when asked if Beijing pressured the Southeast Asian country to add Taiwan to its travel ban.

Since the disease started spreading, the ministry has instructed its overseas offices to communicate with local governments based on three principles: Taiwan is not part of China; Taiwan is not part of China’s 2019-nCoV infection area; and unlike China, Taiwan is keeping infection well under control with no community outbreaks reported, Ou said.

Despite initial misunderstandings caused by Beijing’s “one China” principle, many countries have excluded Taiwan from their travel bans on Chinese, including South Korea, Vietnam, Jordan and Mauritius, she said.

The ministry is still negotiating with Italy about removing Taiwan from its ban on flights from China, but Taiwan-Italy cargo flights and Taiwanese passport holders on other flights to Italy are not affected, she said.

It has also asked Mongolia and Bangladesh to exclude Taiwan from their bans on Chinese tourists, she said.

Responding to queries on Manila’s ban on travelers from Taiwan on the basis of Beijing’s “one China” principle, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday said that many countries do not understand the “one China” principle and have misrepresented and victimized Taiwanese in their efforts to combat the outbreak.

In the absence of official diplomatic ties, Taiwan and the Philippines have had frequent exchanges, and the government would continue to communicate with Manila in the hopes that the two sides would maintain their usual exchanges, he said, adding that the government would provide assistance to Taiwanese stranded in Philippine airports to help them return home.


title: Xi reserving his strength in fighting epidemic

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After the first confirmed case of 2019 novel coronavirus was reported in Tibet, the virus has spread to the entirety of China. This is far more ferocious than the SARS epidemic.

Before Wuhan was locked down, 5 million people had traveled from the Chinese city to other parts of the world. No one knows how many potential time bombs are hidden among those people.

Despite leading 19 task forces, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has left the hard work of annihilating the virus to Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (李克強). This is clearly a political power struggle over who should be the scapegoat.

Locking down cities and tens of millions of residents is clearly a desperate move aimed at cutting losses, leaving people in the locked-down cities to fend for themselves.

It has been three weeks since the lockdown of Wuhan, yet the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the Chinese People’s Armed Police Force (PAP) are still sitting on their hands. The PLA and PAP are Xi’s most valuable assets, and Xi must be remain in firm control of both.

The PLA and the PAP are the two pillars of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime and China’s most effective forces, while Li’s anti-epidemic team only includes Chinese Minister of Public Security Zhao Kezhi (趙克志), but no members of the Chinese Central Military Commission. This means Xi wants to reserve his strength and will not rashly invest his bottom-line resources.

Past dynastic transitions usually occurred together with natural and human-caused disasters, most commonly civil unrest and pestilence. The last Ming Dynasty emperor, Chongzhen, blamed civil and military officials for misleading him, as weak morale, combined with a plague among his troops, allowed Nurhaci — considered the founder of the Qing Dynasty — and his 200,000 mounted soldiers to defeat the 1 million-strong Ming force.

In the 14th century, one-third of Europe’s population died after the Crusaders brought the plague home with them.

Xi might have been called a “country bumpkin,” but surely he must know all this.

The PLA has only allocated small logistics resources to take over medical institution management and field troops have not been involved in city lockdowns, to their detriment.

Apart from advocating patriotism, the CCP propaganda department has ignored the opposition and hostility caused by villages sealing off roads to protect themselves. This is reminiscent of what happened in connection to the Mutual Protection of Southeast China during the late Qing Dynasty, when some local governments refused to carry out the imperial decree.

As of yesterday, the CCP had confirmed 42,638 cases of coronavirus infections and 1,016 deaths — about one-10th of expert estimates — mostly in Wuhan. If the epidemic spreads to first-tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, the casualties and economic losses would become unbearable, and it is only a matter of time before the PLA is deployed.

However, fighting a war and combating a spreading virus are two different things. In war, the targets are visible and it is clear who the enemy is. On the other hand, a virus is invisible and indiscriminate. An army is normally an isolated group of people who eat, sleep, survive and die together. Once it joins the front-line fight against the virus, it will become its main target.

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title: US revokes WTO subsidy preferences for some nations

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The administration of US President Donald Trump is changing a key exemption to the US’ trade-remedy laws to make it easier to penalize about two dozen so-called developing countries, including China, India and South Africa.

The US on Monday narrowed its internal list of developing and least-developed countries to reduce the threshold for triggering a US investigation into whether nations are harming US industries with unfairly subsidized exports, a US Trade Representative (USTR) notice said.

In doing so, the US eliminated its special preferences for a list of self-declared developing countries and territories that includes Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Georgia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Malaysia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Thailand, Ukraine and Vietnam.

The USTR said the decision to revise its developing country methodology for countervailing duty investigations was necessary because the US’ previous guidance — which dates back to 1998 — “is now obsolete.”

The development marks a noteworthy departure from two decades of US trade policy regarding developing nations that could result in more stringent penalties for some of the world’s top exporters.

The move also reflects Trump’s frustration that large economies, such as China and India, are permitted to receive preferential trade benefits as developing nations at the WTO.

During his visit to Davos, Switzerland, last month, Trump said the WTO has not treated the US fairly.

“China is viewed as a developing nation. India is viewed as a developing nation. We’re not viewed as a developing nation. As far as I’m concerned, we’re a developing nation, too,” he said.

The goal of the WTO’s special preferences for developing nations is to help poorer countries reduce poverty, generate employment and integrate themselves into the global trading system.

Under WTO rules, governments are required to terminate their countervailing duty investigations if the amount of foreign subsidy is de minimis, which is normally defined as less than 1 percent ad valorem.

However, WTO rules provide a different standard for so-called developing nations that requires investigators to terminate duty investigation if the amount of subsidy is less than 2 percent ad valorem.

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Virus Outbreak: Groups call for protection of front-line medics

Representatives from several medical groups hold placards at a news conference outside the Centers for Disease Control in Taipei yesterday, asking the government to ensure an adequate supply of resources for front-line medical personnel and to re-evaluate its evacuation plans for Taiwanese stranded in China due to the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak.Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
Representatives from several groups yesterday gathered outside the Centers for Disease Control’s office in Taipei to urge the government to protect the nation’s medical staff and resources as the fight against the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak continues.

In a joint statement, groups including the Taiwan Labor Union of Laboratory Medicine and Biotechnology and the Taiwan Young Pharmacists’ Group thanked front-line medical staff for “sacrificing themselves for the fight and defending the public from the threat of the novel coronavirus.”

“As users of the [National Health Insurance system], we know that this convenient and beneficial world-class healthcare service is the result of the healthcare system working together from top to bottom,” the groups said.

“Since the outbreak of the [2019 novel coronavirus], Taiwan’s epidemic prevention system has faced a serious challenge,” they said. “Without the epidemic prevention personnel and various government agencies working together, Taiwan might have already become a severely affected area.”

The groups said that more than 220,000 people have signed a petition listing four demands to the government.

The petition calls on the government to guarantee that medical staff would have sufficient infection prevention supplies.

The government should be in control of who boards chartered flights carrying evacuees from China and give priority to citizens with “urgent needs,” and Taiwanese medical staff must be present on those flights, the petition reads.

The government should not be rash in chartering flights, the petition said, urging authorities to assess the nation’s healthcare capacity and to accept evacuees in “batches.”

The nation only has 1,100 negative pressure isolation rooms, the groups said.

Taiwan Young Pharmacists’ Group executive director Heyman Li (李懿軒) urged the public not to hoard surgical masks.

Leave supplies to those in greater need, such as front-line medical staff, he said.

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countries: 台灣 加拿大

taiwan-subdivisions: 新竹市 金門

content_text:
Taiwanese paper lantern master honored with Soul of the Craftsman award

新竹市花燈大師蕭在淦獲頒文總「匠人魂」錦旗

A mythical Chinese phoenix lantern made by Taiwanese master lantern craftsmen Hsiao Tsai-kan, pictured on Feb. 4.
台灣花燈大師蕭在淦製作的鳳凰花燈，攝於二月四日。Photo: Hung Mei-hsiu, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者洪美秀

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Hsiao Tsai-kan is the first resident of Hsinchu City to receive a ceremonial “The Soul of the Craftsman” award from the General Association of Chinese Culture. Hsiao, who has 80 years of experience crafting paper lanterns, was presented the award by Hsinchu Mayor Lin Chih-chien at a ceremony held by the association last week. A specially-produced short film featuring Hsiao, entitled “Heartfelt prayers come true,” premiered at the ceremony. The film is the 21st installment in the “The Soul of the Craftsman” series of short films.

The 94-year-old Hsiao is regarded as a national treasure in Taiwan and continues to craft exquisitly-made lanterns. He has received a large number of awards for his work and his lanterns have previously featured in exhibitions overseas. A collection of Hsiao’s lanterns are currently on display at Du Cheng Huang Temple as part of this year’s Lantern Festival.

In the film, which was produced by the association, Hsiao describes how, as a child, he would watch his elderly relatives make paper lanterns. Once grown up, Hsiao had acquired the skill and was propelled to fame after entering a paper lantern competition. Hsiao went on to win awards for his works year after year.

Hsiao says that in the early years he enjoyed making “three mythical creatures” — dragons, phoenixes and unicorns, but later on started to incorporate social stories into his lantern making. Hsiao says he hopes his lanterns can help bring to life these tales from the past.

Hsiao was born in Hsinchu in 1927. From an early age he enjoyed playing with traditional children’s toys and as a teenager, Hsiao began to learn the skill of making paper lanterns. Hsiao scooped first prize at the Hsinchu Du Cheng Huang Temple Lantern Completion three years on the trot between 1991 and 1993, earning a spot on the temple’s coveted Kinmen Honor Board.

Hsiao went on to receive awards at many other paper lantern competitions up and down the country, and was even invited to exhibit his works in Europe, the US and Canada, elevating Hsiao to the status of a “national treasure.”

(Translated by Edward Jones, Taipei Times)

新竹市首位獲中華文化總會頒「匠人魂」錦旗的蕭在淦，擁有八十年的花燈製作經歷，文化總會上週與市長林智堅頒發錦旗，並發表《匠人魂》系列第二十一部花燈篇「祈心成願」影片。

現年九十四歲的國寶級花燈燈藝師蕭在淦，堅持用雙手製作絢麗花燈，作品獲獎無數、更受邀到各國參展，且今年元宵節會在城隍廟展出。

文總製作的「祈心成願」影片，描述蕭在淦兒時看過長輩做花燈，長大後也習得這項技藝，並在競賽中一舉成名，年年得獎的紀錄。

蕭在淦說，早年喜歡糊「人間三奇」龍、鳳凰與麒麟，後來他也喜把社會故事糊成燈，希望透過花燈製作，有如述說歷史故事般。

蕭在淦一九二七年出生在新竹，從小喜歡接觸童玩物件，十幾歲就習得製作花燈的技藝。曾在一九九一到一九九三年連續三年拿下新竹都城隍廟花燈競賽首獎，獲贈都城隍廟之寶「金門保障」複刻版匾額一只。

後來更參加全國性比賽獲獎無數，且受邀到歐美、加拿大參展，成為台灣國寶級的花燈藝師。

(自由時報記者洪美秀)

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Virus Outbreak: China’s virus death toll passes 1,000

A GLOBAL CONCERN:The WHO director-general urged countries to seize the ‘window of opportunity’ and prevent the coronavirus outbreak from becoming ‘a bigger fire’
The death toll from the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak yesterday surged past 1,000 in China as the WHO warned that the epidemic poses a “very grave” global threat.

The WHO is holding a conference in Geneva, Switzerland, on combating the virus as Beijing struggles to contain a disease that has now infected more than 42,000 and reached about 25 countries.

Another 108 deaths were reported yesterday — the first triple-digit daily rise since the virus emerged in December last year.

“With 99 percent of cases in China, this remains very much an emergency for that country, but one that holds a very grave threat for the rest of the world,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the conference, where scientists were discussing how the virus is transmitted and possible vaccines.

Chinese authorities have locked down millions of people in a number of cities, while several governments have banned arrivals from China and major airlines have suspended flights in a bid to keep the disease away from their shores.

The death toll has now reached 1,016, although the mortality rate remains relatively low at 2.4 percent.

However, the case of a British man who passed on the virus to at least 11 other people after a conference in Singapore has raised fears of a new phase of contagion abroad.

Most cases overseas have involved people who had been in Wuhan, where the virus emerged late last year, or people infected by others who had been at the epicenter.

“The detection of this small number of cases could be the spark that becomes a bigger fire,” Tedros said on Monday, urging countries to seize on the “window of opportunity” to prevent a bigger outbreak.

Chinese authorities, meanwhile, sacked the two most senior health officials at the epicenter of the outbreak, state media said yesterday, as pressure mounts over the way local authorities have handled the epidemic.

Zhang Jin (張晉), the Chinese Communist Party boss of the provincial health commission in Hubei, and Liu Yingzi (劉英姿), director of the commission, have been removed from their positions, China Central Television reported.

Authorities also tightened restrictions in the city, forbidding people with fever from visiting hospitals outside of their home districts and sealing off residential compounds.

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