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Virus Outbreak: Petition urges not detaining, deporting migrant workers

A coalition of non-governmental organizations on Friday started a petition calling on the government not to detain or deport undocumented migrant workers who seek medical treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The online petition urges the government to suspend arrests of undocumented migrant workers, because they would otherwise be reluctant to seek medical treatment for fear of deportation, Hsinchu Catholic Diocese Migrants and Immigrants Service Center director Gracie Liu (劉曉櫻) said.

“The idea is to let them seek medical treatment or consultation, and be able to freely leave hospitals and clinics without fear of arrest,” Liu said.

Taichung City Government personnel hold signs with disease prevention information in several languages in Taichung on Sunday last week.
 Photo provided by the Taichung City Government Labor Affairs Bureau

Concerns of a crackdown were raised on Feb. 28, when the Ministry of Labor’s Workforce Development Agency Deputy Director-General Tsai Meng-liang (蔡孟良) said that a system, formed in collaboration with the National Immigration Agency (NIA), would soon begin tracking undocumented migrant workers.

Tsai made the statement after an undocumented female caregiver from Indonesia was confirmed on Feb. 26 as the 32nd person in the nation to contract COVID-19.

The petition also calls on the government to abolish penalties and re-entry bans for undocumented migrant workers who wish to return to their country of origin during the pandemic, Liu said.

Under the law, if an undocumented worker is arrested and deported, they permanently lose their right to work in Taiwan.

In response, Paul Su (蘇裕國), deputy director of the Cross-Border Workforce Management Division of the ministry’s Workforce Development Agency, said the ministry for the time being would not pursue any large-scale crackdown on undocumented workers.

“However, to abolition fines, re-entry bans and restore documented status to workers requires a revision of the current laws, which requires a consensus in society,” he said.

If a member of the general public reports an undocumented migrant worker, the ministry would still investigate, although deportation would be up to the NIA, he said.

There were an estimated 48,545 undocumented migrant workers in Taiwan as of the end of January, with 290 in detention centers, NIA statistics showed.

The petition was started by migrant worker organizations, academics and experts, including the Taiwan International Workers’ Association, the Domestic Caretakers Union Taoyuan, Serve the People Association in Taoyuan, Hope Workers’ Center and the Migrants and Immigrants Service Center.

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‘NOT SEEN EFFECTIVE’:
 Poland and Slovakia closed all of their borders with their neighbors, while Italy’s neighbors reintroduced border controls amid rising cases

The EU on Friday urged member countries to put health screening procedures in place at their borders to slow the spread of COVID-19, but said they must coordinate so that people can quickly receive the medical care they need.

With Italy reporting the most cases and deaths anywhere in the world except China, the pandemic is increasingly wearing on the EU’s cherished core principle, which envisions a border-free Europe where citizens can freely live, work and travel.

Countries that border Italy, including Austria, Slovenia and Switzerland, have moved to reintroduce border controls and restrict traffic from outside.

Vehicles drive toward the German-Danish border crossing near Flensburg, Germany, yesterday.
 Photo: AP

However, several other EU nations, including Poland, Slovakia and Cyprus, announced restrictions that go far beyond travelers from Italy.

Poland’s prime minister said that starting at midnight yesterday, the country’s borders with all its neighbors would be closed and all foreigners denied entry unless they lived in Poland or had personal ties there.

Non-citizens who are let in would be quarantined for 14 days.

Slovakia took similar action.

Denmark on Friday announced that it would shut its borders to most foreign visitors for a month starting yesterday.

An entry ban on foreign nationals in Cyprus only excludes European citizens if they live or work on the island.

More than 22,000 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed across Europe, and nearly 1,300 people with the virus have died.

The EU’s executive commission recommended coordinated border health screenings as a way to address infections.

“We’ve seen travel bans and controls being put in place in a number of member states,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. “Certain controls may be justified, but general travel bans are not seen as being the most effective by the World Health Organization. Moreover, they have a strong social and economic impact. They disrupt people’s lives and business across the borders.”

To avoid a patchwork of national policies that cause economic harm and are ineffective in guarding public health, “any measure that is taken must be proportionate” and coordinated with Brussels, she said.

Preliminary checks for signs of infection could be done at borders between the 26 nations that make up the passport-free Schengen area, but also at the EU’s external borders and within individual countries, Von der Leyen said.

“Member states, especially neighboring ones, need to work very closely together,” Von der Leyen said. “In this way, and it’s the only way, we can make sure that our citizens receive the healthcare that they need ... wherever they are.”

The European Commission led by von der Leyen polices the Schengen area’s rules, but individual countries are responsible for their own health and public safety policies.

“The problem is on different levels in different countries,” Swedish Minister of the Interior Mikael Damberg told reporters. “We hope that all countries that take new measures also inform other European countries.”

“The transportation system must work when it comes to food and to healthcare materials and these kinds of things that are important to all European countries so that we don’t make problems for each other handling the crisis,” Damberg said.

Croatian Minister of the Interior Davor Bozinovic, who is chairing the talks because his country holds the EU’s rotating presidency, said: “This crisis shows that as a European Union we need to have models to act in a more coordinated way.”

“If we are acting in one way, it would be much better for all of us,” he said.

Additional reporting by Reuters

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title: Virus Outbreak: Brussels urges border health controls


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Virus Outbreak: Italians take to singing to beat lockdown blues

Italians are beating the social isolation imposed by the country’s COVID-19 lockdown by taking to their windows and singing in unison, with videos of the phenomenon racking up thousands of views online.

Since Monday, a series of decrees from the Italian government have drastically limited citizens’ movements, with vast swathes of the economy shut down and people instructed to leave the house only when strictly necessary.

Italy has been struck by the worst European outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, with more than 17,000 cases and 1,266 deaths.

People sing and bang pot lids on a rooftop in Rome’s Garbatella neighborhood on Friday.
 Photo: AP

All cultural events have been suspended, prompting some celebrities to start organizing online performances and museums to put virtual tours online.

Another attempt to boost morale has come in the form of impromptu music at people’s windows. One recording in the Tuscan city of Siena has been viewed more than 600,000 times on Twitter.

In it, residents sing the traditional Canto della Verbena about the city from their windows, including a rousing verse with the words “long live our Siena!”

Italian singer Andrea Sannino posted a compilation on his Instagram feed of people singing his song Abbracciame (“Embrace Me”) at their windows in the southern city of Naples, his hometown.

“A day I will tell my children and grandchildren about,” the singer wrote, adding: “Thank you for making me cry floods of tears!”

In another video purportedly of an apartment building in the northern city of Turin, residents can be seen on their balconies trying to perform the Macarena, a Spanish dance song, in unison.

On Friday evening in several districts of Rome, music and singing could be heard coming from people’s windows, including renditions of the national anthem.

Another tune heard was Grazie Roma, a popular song from the 1990s, which includes the words: “Tell me what it is which makes us feel like we’re together, even when we’re apart.”

Another social media initiative has seen Italians put up signs outside their homes saying “Andra tutto bene,” or “Everything will be OK.”

The slogan is accompanied by a picture of a rainbow — often drawn by children at home as school is canceled.

The effects of the nationwide quarantine can already be measured in lower air pollution levels and falling nitrogen dioxide emissions, with the decline particularly evident in the northern region that entered lockdown ahead of the rest of the country.

The drop in pollution has been detected by the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite, and researchers concluded that it was primarily the result of efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19.

“We are very confident that the reduction in emissions that we can see coincides with the lockdown in Italy causing less traffic and industrial activities,” said Claus Zehner, the satellite’s mission manager at the European Space Agency.

The Copernicus Sentinel-5 satellite tracked nitrogen dioxide emissions across Europe from Jan. 1 to Wednesday, using a 10-day moving average.

Nitrous oxide accounts for 6 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions, according to Rhodium Group, a research firm that produces annual estimates.

Most of that comes from agriculture, although fossil fuels use also contributes to the total.


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Oil has worst week since 2008 due to virus, supply deluge

Oil headed for its biggest weekly drop since 2008 as an unprecedented dual supply-demand shock showed no signs of abating.

Futures on Friday reversed a loss to rise, tracking a rebound in US equity futures, while a retaliatory US attack on an Iraqi militia might have lent some support. They were still down 21 percent this week as COVID-19 batters demand.

The schism between former OPEC+ allies appeared to harden as Russian oil producers said that they plan to ramp up production next month, while the Kremlin said that there are no plans for discussions with Saudi Arabia.

The kingdom earlier in the week said that it would boost output by more than 25 percent next month.

The deluge of new supply coinciding with evaporating demand threatens a major shakeout on the US shale patch and could destabilize the governments of some OPEC producers. It has pushed a gauge of oil volatility to record levels and sent Brent’s market structure into a super-contango, where prompt prices are more than US$10 per barrel cheaper than contracts for delivery in 12 months.

“That supply-side shock that we’re seeing is expected to start almost immediately,” Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd senior commodities analyst Daniel Hynes said in a Bloomberg TV interview. “The market is still hopeful of some sort of stimulus-led recovery later in the year, so that’s why the back end of the curve is holding up relatively well.”

West Texas Intermediate futures for delivery next month rose 3.7 percent to US$32.65 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as of 7:28am on Friday in London after dropping as much as 3.7 percent earlier. They closed down 4.5 percent on Thursday.

Brent crude for May settlement on Friday added 3.3 percent to US$34.32 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract on Thursday plunged 7.2 percent and has fallen 24 percent this week. The global benchmark traded at a US$1.21 premium to West Texas Intermediate for the same month, near the narrowest since late 2016.

In the US, several independent oil companies have already announced plans to scale back operations amid the flood of cheap crude. The US industry is also encouraging the Trump administration to waive a law that mandates only domestic vessels can be used to transport goods between US ports.

The response from US drillers will not be enough to prevent a record crude production surplus of 6 million barrels per day next month, Goldman Sachs Group Inc said in a note.

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title: Europe equities edge up to snap six-day loss run

content_text:
FROM BAD TO WORSE:
 A shock crash in crude prices was followed by increasing signs of disruption by the virus, giving the STOXX 600 its worst week since 2008

European stocks on Friday snapped a six-day losing streak, but made only a small gain over the course of the day as an initial rebound ran out of steam as COVID-19 sowed further economic turmoil.

The region’s stocks, which were earlier set for their best day since late 2008, swiftly pared gains after Spain declared a state of emergency over the pandemic, while reports that the US would follow suit added to the pain.

The benchmark STOXX 600 on Friday closed up 2.64 points, or 0.9 percent, at 299.16 following a record 11.5 percent plunge on Thursday. It was down 18.4 percent from 366.80 on March 6, its worst weekly drop since the 2008 financial crisis.

“These measures that governments are putting into place are just restrictions to movement — these are necessary measures, but nevertheless, they will have a significant economic impact, which the market is still coming to terms with,” London-based TS Lombard head of strategy Andrea Cicione said.

The STOXX 600, which sank into bear territory this week, has lost nearly one-third of its value from a peak hit in the middle of last month.

The week, which started with a shock crash in oil prices, followed by increasing signs of disruptions caused by the virus, saw selling pressure break through even the stimulus measures by several major banks.

Spanish stocks ended higher for the day as the bank-heavy IBEX was supported by higher eurozone bond yields. The index bounced back from a near eight-year low.

Italian stocks, which have been among the hardest hit as the country has been the worst-affected in Europe by the coronavirus outbreak, closed up 7 percent, recovering from a more than seven-year low.

Among the eurozone subsectors, resource stocks were the best performers for the day, bouncing back from a four-year low. Mining heavyweights Evraz PLC and BHP Group Ltd gained more than 12 percent each.

Swiss diagnostics maker F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG rose 3.2 percent after the US Food and Drug Administration issued emergency authorization for a faster coronavirus test made by the company.

Oil and gas stocks were the worst weekly performers. They fell almost 30 percent in their worst week ever in the wake of the oil price crash.

Travel and leisure stocks, which have also come under immense pressure from the outbreak, shed 25.1 percent for the week. The subindex also ended lower for the day, with British cinema operator Cineworld Group PLC sinking 30 percent amid continued concerns over the effects of the outbreak on its business.

Additional reporting by staff writer

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title: Greenback bounces against NT dollar, yen and euro

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The New Taiwan dollar on Friday fell against the US dollar, shedding NT$0.060 to close at NT$30.210, sliding 0.6 percent from NT$30.040 a week earlier.

Turnover totaled US$1.525 billion during the trading session.

The greenback opened at NT$30.260 and moved between NT$30.125 and NT$30.290 before the close.

Elsewhere on Friday, the US dollar surged, posting sharp gains against the safe-haven Japanese yen as stock markets recovered globally and investors cheered efforts by governments and policymakers to address the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The US dollar posted its largest daily percentage gain against the yen since April 2013. It also benefited after US President Donald Trump on Friday declared a national emergency over the quickly spreading coronavirus, opening the door to more federal aid to combat the disease.

The greenback extended gains against several currencies after a blowout in swap spreads on Thursday signaled that investors want US dollars. While those spreads came in on Friday, the US dollar held strong.

However, market participants said that signs of US dollar funding stress persist and policymakers probably need to do more.

“Underlying concerns regarding the economic fallout from the coronavirus on credit markets broadly remain,” Toronto-based Bank of Nova Scotia chief foreign exchange strategist Shaun Osborne said.

“It may be tempting to look for signs of a low in global stocks, but with the underlying issue — the coronavirus — still unchecked, we think that is premature at this point,” he said.

The cost of raising US dollar funds in the cross-currency euro swap market on Friday widened again after narrowing the day before on the US Federal Reserve’s announcement that it would inject more liquidity into the banking system, he added.

Wider spreads in the cross-currency basis swap market suggested increased signs of US dollar shortage for corporates seeking funding.

In afternoon trading, the US dollar gained 3.2 percent against the yen to ￥108.03.

Wells Fargo & Co said that it had further upgraded its forecast for the yen against the US dollar as the risk of financial turmoil remains, adding that the greenback would fall to less than ￥100.

“The rate cuts and other policy actions from global central banks have done little to quell market panic. That may be due to the fact that fiscal policymakers have generally been slow to act,” Wells Fargo said in a research note.

The US dollar also rallied versus another safe haven, the Swiss franc, rising 0.6 percent to SF0.9496.

Against a basket of currencies, the US dollar rose 1 percent to 98.467.

The euro nursed losses, despite European Central Bank (ECB) policymakers’ efforts to reassure markets. European assets were on Thursday sold off after investors were underwhelmed by the ECB’s stimulus measures.

The euro was last down 0.7 percent at US$1.1108.

The ECB on Thursday announced a stimulus package that provides loans to banks with rates as low as minus-0.75 percent and increases bond purchases, but it did not join its counterparts in the US and the UK in cutting rates.

The British pound also plunged 2.2 percent against the US dollar to US$1.2290.

The greenback’s rebound this week reflects its role as the world’s most liquid currency, which investors seek in times of stress.

The Fed meets next week and many analysts now expect it to chop its own target policy rate, quite possibly to zero, and give markets new guidance about how it plans to combat the economic fallout from the coronavirus.

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title: Virus Outbreak: THSRC puts forth new holiday rules

content_text:
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) is to impose tighter disease control measures in anticipation of a spike in passengers during the Tomb Sweeping Festival next month, it said on Friday.

The Tomb Sweeping Festival, which this year falls on April 2 to April 5, is dedicated to remembering ancestors by sweeping their graves and paying them respect.

Three infrared thermometers were installed on Thursday at the Taipei high-speed station after introducing two at Taoyuan last week, the company said, adding that the measures would better prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The company said that it would complete similar installations at the Taichung and Zuoying stations before the holiday, and that passengers with a temperature above 37.5°C would receive a ticket refund.

All 12 high-speed rail stations would be equipped with infrared thermometers by the end of April, the company said.

From March 16, carriages are to be disinfected whenever a train concludes its run and arrives at the terminal station, it said, adding that the carriages are currently only cleaned once per day.

Another measure being taken is to sell only reserved seats during the six days of the holiday so that there is no overcrowding, the company said, people with nonreserved tickets stand too close to each other when no seats are available, which could facilitate spreading the virus.

Also, no passes, multi-ride tickets or smart cards such as EasyCard and iPASS cobranded cards, would be accepted, the company said.

Offering about 180,000 rides per day, the company said that stations from last week are disinfected every two hours, instead of every four hours.

The company from midnight yesterday started selling tickets for the Tomb Sweeping Festival, it said, adding that an extra 190 runs are being added to the schedule for a total of 1,056.

As the nation prepares to observe the tomb-sweeping traditions next month, experts on folk customs have encouraged people to avoid going to columbaria, repositories for urns containing cremated remains, and cemeteries to avoid contracting the coronavirus.

People could consider cleaning tombs at a later time, folk custom expert Lin Cheng-yi (林正義) said.

The real purpose of observing the traditions is for people to remember their ancestors, who passed down genes to offspring, he added.

People’s ancestors would want them to stay out of harm’s way, he said, adding that rather than focusing on the ritual performed, people should consider what the ritual means and avoid exposing themselves to the virus.

Additional reporting by Yang Mien-chieh

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Wall Street on Friday staged a furious rally in the waning moments of the session after US President Donald Trump declared a national emergency to combat COVID-19, although major averages still suffered sharp losses for the week.

In a volatile session, all three main indices jumped more than 6 percent in early trading before paring to a gain of as little as 0.55 percent on the S&P 500 before rallying toward the close as Trump made the announcement with industry leaders of about US$50 billion in federal aid to fight the disease.

“The initial take, he started talking about US$50 billion, the market asked: ‘Where is that going?’” OakBrook Investments LLC cochief investment officer Peter Jankovskis said in Lisle, Illinois. “But as he’s been bringing these various leaders to the front and they have been talking about what they are doing, that is really what the market is responding to.”

The indices were still about 20 percent below record highs hit in the middle of last month, and each saw declines of at least 8 percent for the week. Since hitting the highs, markets have been besieged with big swings in the market, nearly matching as many days with declines of at least 1 percent as all of last year.

Friday’s surge was the biggest one-day percentage gain for the S&P 500 since Oct. 28, 2008.

The S&P 500 on Friday gained 230.38 points, or 9.3 percent, to 2,711.02, an 8.8 percent plunge from a close of 2,972.37 on March 6.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Friday rose 1,985 points, or 9.4 percent, to 23,185.62, plummeting 10.4 percent from 25,864.78 a week earlier.

The NASDAQ Composite on Friday added 673.07 points, or 9.4 percent, to 7,874.88, a drop of 8.2 percent from a close of 8,575.62 a week earlier.

All of the main S&P 500 subindices were trading higher, with financial stocks rising 13.23 percent as expectations of further liquidity measures by the US Federal Reserve pushed up US Treasury yields, in what has become a very thin market.

The S&P 500 energy index added 8.84 percent.

Travel stocks, hammered in the rout, were trending upward, with the S&P 1500 airlines index up 11.58 percent.

Hotel operators Marriott International Inc, Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc and Hyatt Hotels Corp all gained at least 1 percent.

Boeing Co jumped 9.92 percent, but suffered its biggest weekly drop in its history on rising concerns about the company’s growing cash burn.

Apple Inc rose 11.98 percent and was among the top boosts to the S&P 500 and the Dow, as the iPhone maker said that it would reopen all 42 of its branded stores in China.

Additional reporting by staff writer

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title: Wall Street rallies on emergency declaration


title: NHI resources must be protected

content_text:
Although China calls it “novel coronavirus pneumonia” and the WHO calls it “COVID-19,” everyone in Taiwan, from officials and the public to the media, is avoiding these names and sticking with the familiar “Wuhan pneumonia.”

This is not because Taiwan is not a member of the WHO, or because the WHO has morphed into a “Chinese Health Organization” — “Wuhan pneumonia” is the right word because it fits the facts.

In Western countries they have an expression: “If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck.”

“Novel coronavirus pneumonia” originated from Wuhan, China, no matter whether it came from a market that sells wildlife meat or the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory. Wuhan has by far the largest number of confirmed cases of the virus and the highest number of deaths from the disease.

There is nothing discriminatory about calling it “Wuhan pneumonia” — it is just a reflection of the facts.

As Japanese lawmaker Hiroshi Yamada of the Liberal Democratic Party said in a committee meeting: “Given that the novel virus comes from Wuhan in China, allow me to call it Wuhan pneumonia.”

Wuhan pneumonia has exposed the lie of China’s “rise as a great nation.”

The Wall Street Journal went so far as to label China the “sick man of Asia.”

In contrast, Taiwan’s disease prevention has proved much better than China’s. The important thing is that Wuhan pneumonia has made Taiwanese realize just how different Taiwan is from China, not only with regards to their political systems, but also in their degree of civilization.

The true meaning of the abstract phrase “a common destiny” has become apparent in people’s daily lives.

Three or four years ago, singer Huang An (黃安) sparked controversy when he came back to Taiwan to be treated under the National Health Insurance (NHI) program, despite having lived and worked in China for many years.

Now there is a new controversy about Chinese children who have one Taiwanese parent, and who want to be evacuated to Taiwan and likewise benefit from Taiwan’s NHI system.

Incidents such as these have caused Taiwan to take the path of self-identification. It is ironic that Wuhan pneumonia should be a turning point in Taiwan’s history.

Those half-Taiwanese Chinese children, whom the media collectively call “xiao ming” (小明), and Huang have inspired calls for the National Health Insurance Act (全民健康保險法) to be revised.

It is true that NHI resources would be the main concern regarding such amendments, but they also involve the less obvious factor of national consciousness.

The xiao ming controversy signals the formation of a Taiwanese national consciousness. Many people agree that those people could choose which nationality they preferred, and that if they did not choose Taiwan, they should have to make their own arrangements and pay their own bills.

As for the so-called “Huang An clause,” it represents the consolidation of this national consciousness.

Huang has lived in China for years and earned tens of millions of New Taiwan dollars each year as an entertainer, but he only paid the minimum NHI premium to enjoy the scheme’s welfare benefits. Besides, he has frequently insulted Taiwan and acted like a guard dog for Chinese authorities.

It is important to amend the law to resolve the injustice and unfairness of Chinese and people like Huang enjoying the benefits of NHI resources.

The amendments would shut the back door that was opened under former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) for Chinese citizens to qualify for NHI coverage.

Amid the Wuhan pneumonia outbreak, an opinion poll published by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation (台灣民意基金會) found that 83.2 percent of respondents identified themselves as Taiwanese, while only about 10 percent identified as either Chinese or Taiwanese and Chinese.

These results demonstrate the collective consciousness of Taiwanese, and highlight the big difference between Taiwan and China.

The Huang An affair has dragged on for a long time. Only now has it been brought out into the open along with the xiao ming problem. It is high time these problems were dealt with.

Chin Heng-wei is a political commentator.

Translated by Julian Clegg

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title: Taiwan can learn from Singapore’s defense deals

content_text:
On Feb. 25, the second day of US President Donald Trump’s first state visit to India, he signed off on an arms deal package worth US$3.5 billion, which is expected to include 24 Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawk anti-submarine warfare helicopters for the Indian Navy and six Boeing AH-64E Apache attack helicopters for the Indian Army.

A report by Chinese-language online news outlet Up Media said that Taiwan is the US’ next target buyer.

In 2014, the Republic of China (ROC) Navy proposed purchasing new anti-submarine warfare helicopters from the US.

Since then, the US has been asking whether Taiwan is interested in procuring the MH-60R, which is manufactured by Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky Aircraft.

Although Taiwan in 2015 rejected the US company’s offer of eight to 10 MH-60R helicopters at a price of about US$80 million each due to cost considerations, the navy still keeps the MH-60R on its procurement list because its fleet of anti-submarine helicopters is very old.

In 1991, Taiwan procured its first batch of 10 Sikorsky S-70C(M)-1 anti-submarine warfare helicopters through “Shen-ying Project I” to form the navy’s 701st Helicopter Squadron.

A decade later, the navy procured another 11 Sikorsky S-70C(M)-2 anti-submarine helicopters through “Shen-ying Project II,” bringing the navy’s number of helicopters in the S-70 series to 21.

Thirty years later, these helicopters are in critical danger due to material shortages and because manufacturing sources are disappearing. Their airframes and avionics systems have never undergone a mid-life upgrade.

Compared with the ROC Air Force’s Air Rescue Group, whose S-70C search-and-rescue helicopters were retired on Feb. 14 after 30 years of service, the navy still hangs on to the S-70C(M)-1 as a frontline helicopter although its combat capabilities are truly worrying.

Given the limited national defense budget, the Ministry of National Defense should evaluate whether procurement is Taiwan’s only option.

Taiwan could learn from Singapore, a nation that never hesitates to spend large sums on weapons and whose military expenditure is not restricted by its proportion of the GDP.

If Taiwan chooses to buy eight new MH-60Rs to replace its fleet, the navy’s 21 S-70C(M)-1/2 helicopters could probably be used for training purposes or replacement parts.

Moreover, as a large part of the national defense budget could go to domestically built surface warships and the “Indigenous Defense Submarine” program, there would hardly be any budget left to allocate to the procurement of new anti-submarine warfare helicopters or upgrade existing aircraft.

On the other hand, the navy has about 20 warships that are classed as 3,000 tonnes and above and are equipped with hangar facilities, so acquiring eight new MH-60R helicopters does not meet the needs of even a single fleet.

The navy should distance itself from the US’ political-commercial marketing strategy and follow the example of the Singaporean Navy, which does not waste government funds.

When Singapore took delivery of two new S-70B Seahawks in 2018, the country also decided to upgrade its navy’s six older Seahawks to the same standard. This means that Singapore only spent half the budget required to acquire eight of the latest S-70B Seahawks.

Perhaps Taiwan should opt for procuring three S-70C helicopters to supplement the three that have crashed, while upgrading its remaining 18.

It would benefit the public if the government could maximize its use of the national defense budget.

Chang Feng-lin is a doctoral student.

Translated by Chang Ho-ming

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title: Virus Outbreak: Group says no evacuation needed

content_text:
A group of Taiwanese in Italy on Friday said that they did not need the government to evacuate them as previously reported and are continuing their daily lives normally, despite an outbreak of COVID-19.

The statement, written in Mandarin, was posted on the Facebook page “Taiwanese in Italy” (旅義台人), which was created on Thursday and had attracted nearly 150 signatories as of yesterday.

“We have never requested an evacuation, nor were we asked if an evacuation is necessary. The sources cited by news reports about such a request do not represent our opinions,” it said.

A horse pulls a man on the streets of Naples, Italy, on Friday. Lockdown measures kicked in throughout Italy on Thursday after Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced late on Wednesday that all nonessential shops should close as part of the efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.
 Photo: EPA-EFE

The statement follows remarks earlier this week from Milan, Italy-based Taiwanese businessperson Lai Tien-fu (賴天福), who questioned the Italian government’s response to the outbreak and urged Taiwan’s government to evacuate Taiwanese with charter flights.

The group said it decided to clarify the matter because its numbers have faced criticism following various rumors over the past few days.

Under the Italian government’s emergency order, people who need to leave the country for health, work or emergency reasons must first obtain approval on a case-by-case basis, the statement said.

“With legitimate reasons, we can still leave Italy by ourselves,” it said. “We will pay for the airfare, instead of using Taiwanese taxpayers’ money.”

“Italy is also our home,” it said. “We decide to stay in Italy because its rich and inclusive culture provides the fertile soil for our settlement.”

They do not face a “food shortage crisis” as some news reports have suggested, and are still allowed to go outdoors in local townships, although they are encouraged to stay at home, it added.

While some reports compared Italy’s lockdown to that of Wuhan, China, Italy is a democratic country like Taiwan, not a dictatorship, so it does not inhumanly “imprison” people, the statement said.

Despite some cases of prejudice against ethnic Chinese, most Italians are tolerant, and despite an occasional incident, Taiwanese have received help from Italians to become a part of society, it said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday also shared the group’s statement through its news release mailing system.

Responding to Lai’s request, ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) told a news briefing on Tuesday that it had ordered its office in Rome to draw up plans for possible aid scenarios and that the office maintains contact with the nearly 450 Taiwanese in Italy.

Based on the situation in Italy, an evacuation is not needed, she said yesterday, adding that the ministry would make an announcement if the situation changes.

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content_text:
During her first job as a receptionist, Sara Garcia Antunez got a lot of unwanted attention from a postman who began to stalk her online.

“This guy got obsessed with me and wouldn’t leave me alone ... he only knew my first and last name, but with that information you can find out a lot online,” she said by telephone from Madrid.

Scared and powerless at being stalked online, Antunez decided to do something about the growing problem of digital sex abuse after she qualified as a criminal barrister.

She founded Stop Haters in 2017, a Madrid-based association that offers free legal and psychological support to victims of online abuse.

Antunez is one of an increasing number of lawyers and campaigners calling for urgent changes to laws around the world to help protect women from digital sex abuses such as cyberflashing, sextortion, cyberstalking and upskirting.

Digital sex abuse with the proliferation of smartphones and greater Web access is “spreading really rapidly ... in every country of the world,” said Heather Barr, acting codirector of the Women’s Rights Division at Human Rights Watch.

These types of abuses are increasingly becoming a “standard component” of domestic abuse and intimate partner violence cases, and legal systems are responding “terribly,” she said.

A nationwide survey in the US in 2017 by the non-profit Cyber Civil Rights Initiative found that nearly 13 percent of about 3,000 participants had been threatened by or were victims of revenge porn, the distribution of sexually graphic images of them without their consent.

In Britain, more than 40 percent of millennial women have been sent an unsolicited photograph of a man’s private parts usually using iPhone AirDrop, a YouGov poll in 2017 found.

South Korea has become the global epicenter of spycam — the use of hidden cameras to film victims naked or mid-sex.

Nearly one in four women who has been harassed or secretly filmed has thought about suicide, a survey of 2,000 victims by government think tank Korean Women’s Development Institute released in October last year found.

However data on the number of victims of digital sex abuse is patchy and barely existent in some parts of the world.

The legal position on digital sex abuse varies considerably around the world and according to the type of abuse.

Singapore, Texas and Scotland have introduced specific legislation to deal with cyberflashing, which is when a man sends a photograph of his penis via a digital device.

Britain and France have introduced specific legislation to make upskirting — the surreptitious taking of photographs or videos under women’s clothing — a criminal offense, but critics say that more countries need to take action.

Hanna Seidel, a film student who has become a prominent campaigner to ban upskirting in Germany, said that international laws desperately need modernizing.

“There are so many ways [to abuse women] now with small cameras so we really need to do something about it in Europe and around the world,” said Seidel, 29, herself a victim of upskirting twice.

Ryan Whelan, a lawyer who partnered with campaigner Gina Martin to make upskirting a criminal offence in Britain last year, said that upskirting is an “utterly grotesque violation.”

“Perpetrators must be identified and brought to justice,” he said. “If other countries have gaps in the law that mean upskirting cannot be prosecuted then right-thinking people — voters — will no doubt expect action from those in government.”

Women around the world have increasingly raised concerns about online behavior and content that is harmful, misogynistic and violent, the UN said in a 2018 report.

Founder of the World Wide Web Tim Berners-Lee voiced concerns this month that growing online abuse of women and girls is threatening progress toward gender equality.

Yet law enforcement bodies often “trivialize online violence against women,” the UN said.

Antunez said that the authorities do not treat online abuse seriously enough, meaning victims sometimes lack legal protection, for instance in Spain when nude photographs of someone are shared online without their consent.

“If a partner or ex partner does something like this, it falls under gender violence laws ... it’s fast, efficient, the victim is safe or at least has lots of guarantees,” she said.

Yet if someone met online is responsible for the abuse then it would not be considered a gender violence case and could take up to 18 months to go to court, which deters many from reporting it, she said.

Despite the German government’s plans to criminalize upskirting, it is still a “tough topic” to discuss and many are still too embarrassed to report it, said Seidel, calling for more female police officers.

States and governments everywhere are still not doing enough to raise awareness, partly because politicians might not realize the gravity of the abuse, Antunez said.

“Online abuse is like a taboo here, as if it didn’t exist,” she said. “In Spain when a story comes out about this, it looks like an isolated case ... but it’s happening every day.”

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title: Groups call on lawmakers to punish digital sex abuse


content_text:
SAFEGUARDING PROTECTORS:
 he travel suspension is to prevent an outbreak of COVID-19 among military personnel and follows a similar suspension for medical staff

The Ministry of National Defense yesterday temporarily suspended overseas travel to selected areas by military personnel to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Ministry spokesman Major General Shih Shun-wen (史順文) said the suspension was due to the rising threat of the virus.

The ministry is asking personnel whose applications for overseas travel were already approved prior to the ban to delay or cancel their trips, Shih said.

Two masked soldiers stand guard at the main entrance of Fu Hsing Kang College, a military academy, in Taipei’s Beitou District yesterday.
 Photo: CNA

Military personnel who insist on traveling overseas require special approval from a superior officer and would be quarantined for 14 days when they return, he said.

The ministry considers disease prevention to be as serious as combat, and would continue to follow the advice of the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), he added.

Meanwhile, the ministry would maintain normal training operations to ensure the military’s combat readiness, Shih said.

The restrictions come after the WHO on Wednesday declared the virus a pandemic, and follows a travel advisory implemented last month.

The military advisory was to prevent an outbreak among military personnel responsible for national security, Shih said.

It covers the following 29 countries and territories listed by Taiwan as posing a risk of infection for travelers: Australia, Belgium, Cambodia, Canada, China (including Hong Kong and Macau), Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, the US, the UK and Vietnam.

Last month, the CECC also announced a temporary suspension of overseas travel by frontline doctors and nurses working in hospitals.

It said that with the current shortage of workers in the healthcare system, Taiwan cannot afford to put its medical personnel into 14-day quarantine when they return from trips abroad.

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title: Virus Outbreak: Ministry suspends some military travel


content_text:
Plunging crude prices could be catalyst for shift to green energy
Cheap oil could promote the use of private vehicles over public transportation, but it also crimps the profits of major producers, while investment in environmentally friendly power is long-term

The collapse in global oil prices might end up being bad news in the short term for the transition to green energy, as cheaper crude could see more use of road vehicles and aircraft. However, on the flip side, it could see companies move away from exploiting expensive fossil fuel deposits.

The plunging price of crude could prompt more people to use personal vehicles and airplanes rather than public transportation, and encourage the purchase of bigger, fuel-hungry models such as sport utility vehicles.

For individuals as well as businesses, a cheap barrel of crude also means cheaper heating oil, a slowdown in energy savings and could delay schemes to convert to “greener” electricity.

General Motors Co’s all-new modular electric vehicle platform and battery system, Ultium, is displayed at the Design Dome on the GM Tech Center campus in Warren, Michigan, on Wednesday last week.
 Photo: AP / General Motors

However, by reducing the profits of oil majors, cheap oil could see some potentially less profitable exploration projects put on hold, which would help cut future carbon emissions.

For example, that is particularly the case with shale oil in North America, which is costly to extract and is seen as not profitable at less than US$50 per barrel.

However, Greenpeace UK oil finance adviser Charlie Kronick said that it could also delay companies in their move toward becoming more environmentally friendly.

“In purely financial terms, cheap oil will make it easier for fossil fuels to compete with the increasingly affordable renewables, making the economic case for companies like BP [PLC] that are trying to reinvent themselves as greener energy producers more challenging, and potentially slowing the transition,” Kronick said.

“Expensive oil makes the alternatives, like electric vehicles, more attractive. Cheaper oil creates a headwind for that change,” he told reporters.

City, University of London’s Bobby Banerjee said that given the climate crisis and promises from a number of countries to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, investments in the sector were long-term.

“Oil prices always fluctuate, no government makes decisions on oil prices,” Banerjee said, adding that investment had already begun, helped by state subsidies that guarantee oil majors’ income.

Countries such as Britain are gradually closing all their coal-fired power stations.

The combined result has been that carbon dioxide emissions in the energy sector dropped 2 percent worldwide last year, data from independent energy think tank Ember showed.

Many businesses, notably investment funds, are also taking into account a high “carbon risk,” which has led the world’s biggest asset manager, Blackrock Inc, to pull its investments in coal.

All of these factors risk being supplanted in the short term by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has paralyzed the economies of several countries, grounded air traffic and, in the case of Italy, put the entire country into lockdown.

The demand for oil, especially from the world’s second-biggest consumer China, is in free fall. This should lower carbon dioxide emissions temporarily and even on a more sustainable basis if the effects of the coronavirus are as severe as the 2008 global financial crisis.

The situation is “a perfect opportunity to remove the subsidies to oil companies, because oil prices are low,” Banerjee said.

“It’s a good time to put the carbon tax very high to accelerate the energy transition,” he said.

However, given the likelihood of a looming economic slump, that could be politically problematic.

The transition to low-carbon energy is not dependent on the price or availability of fossil fuels, Kronick said.

“The shift is ultimately driven by the need to avoid catastrophic climate change and the inevitable economic disruption that comes with the climate emergency,” Kronick said.

“The shocks that we’re currently experiencing show that rapid changes are possible, though not always welcome. The economic conditions that we face now will pass, but the need to leave oil and gas in the ground won’t,” he said.

“The additional challenge is to make sure that the corresponding crisis in the oil markets doesn’t delay the low carbon transformation that we must begin now,” he added.


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Facebook closes accounts posting misinformation

Facebook last week deactivated more than 60 accounts linked to China that disseminated false information about COVID-19, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday.

The accounts, which had spread false information about the coronavirus to Taiwanese users in hopes of creating public panic, used fake official documents to try to mislead people, the source said.

The Chinese profiles pretended to be Taiwanese users by using traditional Chinese character names, but Facebook was able to determine their authenticity by the date they were registered and their IP addresses, the source said.

The Facebook logo is displayed over binary code in this illustration from Nov. 26 last year.
 Photo: Reuters

However, it is unclear if these accounts were directly linked to the Chinese government, the source added.

Another unnamed source said that the methods China uses to spread misinformation have become harder to detect.

In the past, Chinese operatives just created a Facebook page to spread falsehoods, but now they visit and leave messages on different pages to appear as legitimate users, which make their actions harder to detect, the source said.

Previously, these kinds of accounts were primarily used to spread false information to sway political elections, but now misinformation about the coronavirus is used to create public panic, the source said.

Facebook uses multiple resources to locate these kinds of profiles, including the Taiwan FactCheck Center, which provides information to the social networking service if it detects any abnormalities in an account.

During a meeting on Thursday organized by the National Communications Commission for social networking platforms, Facebook shared information about deactivating fake accounts that spread misinformation about the coronavirus.

Facebook said it has always acted on any profiles that breached its code of conduct, such as fraud. Hence, it has removed accounts that impersonated Taiwanese users and attempted to mislead the public by spreading false information.

The company said that it would continue to monitor the issue and take action against fake information related to COVID-19.

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title: Electric vehicles struggling for momentum in Pakistan

content_text:
By Imran Mukhtar / Thomson Reuters Foundation, ISLAMABAD

As Pakistan’s first-ever electric three-wheeled rickshaws start to roll off the assembly line, the country is struggling to build momentum for its shift to electric vehicles as part of efforts to cut air pollution and curb climate change.

It has been four months since Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Cabinet approved the National Electric Vehicle Policy, offering tax exemptions and incentives to manufacturers, importers and buyers of electric vehicles (EVs).

However, pushback by traditional automakers has stalled the government’s finalizing of the policy, leaving EV makers worried that eco-friendly cars, vans, motorcycles and rickshaws will remain too expensive for the mass market.

“The electric rickshaws have comparatively much lower running and maintenance costs,” said Syed Ismail Ghaznavi, sales head at Sazgar Engineering Works Ltd, which launched the country’s first electric rickshaw in January.

Sazgar’s electric rickshaw can travel up to 170km on a charge, has almost no moving parts — meaning fewer trips to the mechanic — and produces zero emissions, he said.

“But we need the government support to roll it out on a larger scale for the public,” Ghaznavi said.

Transport accounts for more than 40 percent of the air pollution produced in the country, Pakistani Ministry of Climate Change data showed.

In the policy it approved in November last year, the government set a target to bring 500,000 electric motorcycles and rickshaws, along with more than 100,000 electric cars, buses and trucks, into the transportation system in the next five years.

By 2030, the government wants to have about one-third of the vehicles in Pakistan running on electrical energy, said Malik Amin Aslam, the prime minister’s adviser on climate change,

The move to electric vehicles is “a win-win strategy,” Aslam told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, saying that it should reduce emissions by nearly three-fourths and cut the cost of running a vehicle by 60 percent.

Pakistan generates less than 1 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, but it is one of the countries that suffers most from the effects of climate change, including flooding, droughts, heat waves and melting glaciers, environmental experts have said.

The Global Climate Risk Index 2020, issued by environmental think tank Germanwatch, ranked Pakistan fifth among the 10 countries most affected by extreme weather over the past 20 years.

“Our food security is at risk due to these climate change conditions, and we have to focus on adaptation,” said Imran Saqib Khalid, a research fellow at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, an Islamabad-based independent think tank.

In particular, the new EV policy would help curb air pollution and smog, “a major environmental problem the country has been facing for the past few years,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Urban air pollution levels in Pakistan, a country of more than 200 million people, are among the most severe in the world, stemming from increasing energy use and rapid motorization, a 2014 World Bank study said.

The number of vehicles on Pakistan’s roads jumped from about 2 million in 1991 to more than 10 million two decades later, the report said.

As it tries to spark an electric mobility revolution, Pakistan is following countries such as Norway, France and the UK, all of which have said that they would ban sales of internal combustion engine-powered vehicles within the next 20 years.

Pakistan’s government plans to use a raft of monetary incentives to convince the country’s automaker and the public to switch to environmentally friendly modes of transport.

To encourage prospective buyers, the government has said that it aims to lower or do away with various taxes on EVs and bring down customs duty for imported parts to 1 percent.

It also plans to establish fast-charging stations in all major cities, and along major motorways and highways every 15km to 30km.

However, some automakers are pushing back, saying that creating incentives specifically for EVs unfairly benefits the nascent industry while leaving the traditional automobile sector floundering.

Sales of fossil fuel-powered vehicles in Pakistan last year dropped drastically following the devaluation of the Pakistani rupee, which led to a sharp increase in the price of vehicles and parts.

“Our only concern is that there should be only one auto policy and not a separate policy for EVs,” Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association director-general Abdul Waheed Khan told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The association has agreed to the tax exemptions and incentives being offered for EVs, but has urged the government to also protect existing investment in the traditional auto sector, Khan said by telephone.

Majeed Ghauri, chairman of the Awami Rickshaw Union, which represents the country’s rickshaw drivers, said that the group welcomed the government’s announcement of special incentives to promote electric rickshaws.

However, the government should find a way to make electric rickshaws cheaper than traditional ones — which can cost up to 270,000 rupees (US$1,721) — to make them affordable for low-income drivers, he said.

“We want to get rid of noisy, smoke-emitting rickshaws and it is better that environmentally friendly rickshaws should ply on the roads to end pollution,” Ghauri said. “But these should be cheap and should have power equal to that of traditional ones.”

Pakistan Electric Vehicles Manufacturers Association chairman Muhammad Sabir Shaikh said that he is confident the switch to electric would prove successful “in a very short span of time,” reducing air pollution and boosting investment in the country’s auto sector.

As many as 80 motorcycle assembly plants in Pakistan have closed in the past several years due to a substantial fall in profits, said Shaikh, who also heads the Association of Pakistan Motorcycle Assemblers.

“Now the majority of them want to assemble e-motorcycles to revive their business,” he said.

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title: TAIEX returns to 10,000 points after early losses

content_text:
BARGAIN HUNTING:
 One analyst said that there was a consensus that a buying opportunity had emerged, with government-led funds likely leading the rebound

Local shares on Friday closed lower, but recouped a large part of their earlier losses on bargain hunting to return to 10,000 points, while investors remained wary of the COVID-19 pandemic, dealers said.

Bargain hunters turned active after the main board fell to less than 10,000 points and moved closer to 9,600 points, rushing to pick up battered large-cap tech stocks, in particular in the Apple Inc supply chain, while the petrochemical sector underperformed the broader market in the wake of falling international crude oil prices, the dealers said.

The TAIEX on Friday ended down 293.45 points, or 2.82 percent, at 10,128.87, after moving between 9,636.15 and 10,171.20 on turnover of NT$302.182 billion (US$10 billion). That was a 10.5 percent plunge from a close of 11,321.81 on March 6.

The market opened down 3.17 percent in a knee-jerk reaction to heavy losses on US markets, the dealers said.

Thursday’s plunge of the US markets came after the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic as the number of confirmed cases worldwide continued to rise.

The weakness on the local main board continued to push down the TAIEX to the day’s low, which was closer to 9,600 points, prompting some investors to shift to the buy side, in particular in the late trading session, to take advantage of the relatively low valuations after the earlier sell-off, which helped the main board return to 10,000 points by the end of the session, the dealers said.

“The late-session interest showed that many investors had a consensus that a buying opportunity on the battered local main board has emerged and their participation boosted today’s turnover to top the huge NT$300 billion level,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang (黃國偉) said.

“I think among the active bargain hunters were government-led funds in a bid to limit the downturn and eventually bolster investor confidence in the local equity market for the moment,” Huang said.

Bargain hunting focused on large-cap Apple concept stocks, lifting the entire electronics sector, which dominated the main board throughout the trading session, he said.

“The contagion is likely to hurt consumption for now, but after the virus spread slows down, the tech industry could benefit from deferred purchases,” Huang said.

Among the suppliers to Apple, contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the most heavily weighted stock on the local market, rose 1.36 percent to close at NT$290 after coming off a low of NT$272.50, with 149.74 million shares changing hands.

After hitting a low of NT$69.90, iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd (鴻海精密), second only to TSMC in terms of market capitalization, lost 0.13 percent to close at NT$74.60, while smartphone camera maker Largan Precision Co (大立光) gained 2.01 percent to end at NT$4,060 after coming off a low of NT$3,620 and contract notebook computer producer Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦) closed up 3.06 percent at NT$60.60, off a low of NT$54.50.

Riding the wave of bargain hunting, the electronics sector ended at 447.45, down 1.96 percent, off a low of 423.12.

The hard-hit financial sector also got a boost from bargain hunting to recover some of its earlier losses, with Yuanta Financial Holding Co (元大金控) down 0.57 percent to close at NT$17.40, off a low of NT$16, and Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控) down 0.66 percent to end at NT$30 after hitting a low of NT$28.05.

The petrochemical sector underperformed the broader market amid concern over a plunge in crude oil prices, the dealers said.

Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) fell 5.45 percent to close at NT$72.90, Formosa Plastics Corp (台灣塑膠) lost 4.05 percent to end at NT$80.60, Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠) dropped 3.76 percent to close at NT$61.40 and Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp (台灣化纖) lost 3.73 percent to end at NT$72.30.

“Despite the latest bargain hunting, the local equity market is still dictated by the performance of the global markets, as the virus spreading in the US and Europe shows no signs of easing,” Huang said.

“If there is any technical rebound, the TAIEX could see stiff technical resistance ahead of 10,300 points,” he said.

Foreign institutional investors on Friday sold a net NT$30.23 billion of shares on the main board after a net sale of NT$36.82 billion a session earlier, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.

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companies: 台積電 Apple


content_text:
A NEW VECTOR
 Cleaning volunteers have reported finding more masks in beach areas, and disposed masks containing COVID-19 might become a new method of infection

People who are caught littering used masks face a fine of up to NT$6,000, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said yesterday, as more masks are being found on beaches amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Beach cleaning volunteers said they have found an increasing number of masks for adults and children in a variety of colors, Society of Wilderness chairwoman Liu Yueh-mei (劉月梅) said, calling on the government to increase public education and implement regulations about garbage disposal.

Mask littering pollutes the environment and threatens public health, as masks with nonwoven fabrics cannot naturally decompose, while used masks might carry the virus, Greenpeace Taiwan campaigner Chang Kai-ting (張凱婷) said.

A discarded surgical mask lies on the ground somewhere in Taipei yesterday.

Photo: Lo Chi, Taipei Times

As human-to-human transmission remains the primary method of infection for COVID-19, garbage bins that contain disposed masks in urban areas are more likely to become a vector of transmission than those at less populated seaside areas, National Taiwan University College of Public Health dean Chan Chang-chuan (詹長權) said.

Masks with fabrics that do not decompose are classified as general waste, and people caught littering face a fine of between NT$1,200 and NT$6,000 under the Waste Disposal Act (廢棄物清理法), EPA Department of Waste Management Director-General Lai Ying-ying (賴瑩瑩) said.

The EPA would ask local authorities to increase patrolling and cleaning in areas in which littered masks are more likely to be found and post more notices, she added.

In related news, a woman buying masks at a pharmacy in Taipei on Friday demanded that a pharmacist kneel and apologize after they handed her the wrong National Health Insurance card, sparking criticism.

Although the pharmacist said that she had asked the customer to check her card before leaving, she still knelt and apologized when the customer returned to fetch the correct card.

In a statement yesterday, the Taiwan Pharmacist Association denounced the request.

Most people are patient when lining up to buy masks, but a few have treated pharmacists disrespectfully, such as the demand that the pharmacist kowtow in apology, which has severely humiliated the pharmacist and affected the morale of all other pharmacists working hard to protect public health, it said.

The association would provide pharmacists who experience similar treatment with legal counseling resources, it said, calling on people to respect medical professionals during the pandemic.

Additional reporting by Lin Hui-chin

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title: Virus Outbreak: Mask litterbugs face up to NT$6,000 in fines


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: People who have dementia require special virus care
By Tsai Shu-yuan and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Caregivers should ensure that they frequently sanitize the hands and living spaces of those they care for, particularly people with dementia, to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection, a Taichung doctor said.

Because the behavioral processes of people with dementia have regressed, caregivers must help them sanitize their homes, and must make the process simple for them, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital physician and Taiwanese Society of Psychiatry chairman Lai Te-jen (賴德仁) said.

Normal preventative health measures might be difficult for people with dementia, given their lowered capacity to understand, remember and express ideas, Lai said.

A person with dementia might not be able to tell doctors what is wrong with them when they become ill, and might not be able to convey where they have been or what they have come into contact with, he said, adding that they might forget advice, such as frequently washing their hands and avoiding touching their face.

Lai advised caregivers to model good behaviors, such as the proper way to wear a mask, and when hands should be washed — before eating, after using the washroom, after coughing and after blowing their nose, he said, adding that they could place signs in the home to help them remember.

However, while caregivers should remind the people they care for to wash their hands, they should avoid scolding them if they forget, Lai said.

Caregivers and family members should not prevent people with dementia from going outdoors or joining events they enjoy, Lai said, citing a patient he treated who was forbidden from leaving their home by family members who were afraid of infection.

“Preventing outdoor movement or activity may worsen the symptoms of dementia and cause conflict in the home,” he said.

If going outside is not possible, caregivers or family members should organize more activities in the home, such as board games, painting, singing or watching movies, Lai said.

If the person being cared for exhibits symptoms of depression or insomnia when asked to stay home, caregivers should take them to the doctor, he said.

“Public places where crowds gather have generally stepped up sanitation efforts. There is no reason to be anxious about going out in public,” he said.

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content_text:
The second set of charter flights carrying Taiwanese who had been quarantined in China was delayed earlier this week due to last-minute, unilateral actions by Chinese authorities.

Chinese health officials initially refused to allow the evacuees to wear protective medical clothing on the flight, despite strict directives from the Central Epidemic Command Center to do so. Chinese authorities also tried to place 30 people on the flight who were not on the original manifest.

China had put additional passengers on the first charter flight last month, one of whom was later confirmed to be infected with COVID-19, causing an uproar when it was reported in the media. People could be forgiven for assuming that China sought to trigger a COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan, where the disease has been kept under control due to the hard work of the center and the cooperation of the public.

One evacuee reported that members of the Chinese flight crew on one of this week’s China Eastern Airlines charter flights were wearing protective clothing, demonstrating that Chinese officials did not believe the clothing was as unnecessary as they claimed. Meanwhile, Chinese state media lambasted the Taiwanese government for “obstructing the return home of Taiwanese.”

The coronavirus, which originated in China and is suspected of having been manufactured in a Chinese lab, has wreaked havoc around the globe. International events have been canceled for the year, stock markets have plummeted, people have lost their jobs, and entire industries are hanging by a thread as manufacturing is disrupted and consumers stay home. This is a time for Beijing to show some humility. Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) should be apologizing to the world for the incalculable destruction caused by his administration’s failures, but the Chinese government remains obstinate and blames others.

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) should take advantage of her second term to place an embargo on China or, at the very least, to strictly limit Taiwanese study and business in the country — limits that would remain in place after the threat of COVID-19 has passed. China presents a legitimate threat to Taiwan, militarily, economically, socially and now medically. Tsai could remain open to dialogue with China on an official level, as well as schedule some vetted exchanges such as sports events, but individual travel in either direction for pleasure, study or work should be curbed or halted until China is no longer a threat to Taiwan.

The center on Tuesday held its ground in its insistence on protective clothing and rejection of additional passengers — ultimately succeeding. This should serve as a precedent for the administration: There should be no ceding to China on cross-strait issues or other diplomatic affairs if Taiwan is being disrespected, or its rights and regulations are being trampled on.

The government should make it clear to Taiwanese who choose to travel to China that it does not have regular diplomatic relations with Beijing, so travelers should not expect assistance if problems arise.

In December last year, the Central News Agency reported that the number of Taiwanese working in China, including Hong Kong and Macau, had reached a 10-year low, but more than 400,000 Taiwanese still work in China, the No. 1 destination for Taiwanese working abroad. Tsai should know the motivations of those seeking work in China. If it is simply a matter of job opportunities, she could work with Taiwanese companies to find suitable local placements, or positions with Taiwanese companies overseas. Serious thought should be put into how salaries in Taiwan could be raised to a level more on par with the nation’s neighbors.

The Chinese Communist Party has always been a threat to democratic Taiwan, something that China being the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic simply underlines. The government must seek to distance Taiwan and its citizens from this threat.

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people: 習近平 蔡英文

title: EDITORIAL: China poses a medical threat


content_text:
By Wang Ting-chuan and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer

A New Taipei City man has been indicted on a coercion charge after allegedly harassing another man at his residence in the city’s Sanchong District (三重) for eight consecutive months.

The Sanchong man, surnamed Lin (林), said that the suspect, surnamed Kuo (郭), banged on his door at about 4am three to four times per week from June last year until January, the indictment said.

Each time, Kuo would allegedly yell: “I love you, Miss Chen,” in a profession of love to the woman who had previously lived at the address, it added.

The entrance to the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office is pictured on Monday.
 Photo: Wang Ting-chuan, Taipei Times

Prosecutors said Kuo admitted during questioning that he knew the woman surnamed Chen (陳) had moved to another address, but that he was told by a Taoist deity to continue professing his love to Chen at the old address.

Prosecutors quoted Lin as saying that he eventually could no long bear the disturbances and went to the police for help.

The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office found Kuo’s alleged actions to be “a disturbance of Lin’s rest, and a breach of his right to peace and quiet in his residence,” and proceeded with the indictment, prosecutors said.

Lin did not get proper sleep and had low energy levels during the day, they said.

“Proper sleep is something you cannot do without. A peaceful and quiet place of residence is directly tied to protecting proper sleep, and a person’s right to this is safeguarded under the law,” they said.

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title: New Taipei City man charged with coercing another


content_text:
Asian markets take a beating, extending global rout from coronavirus pandemic

Asian equities on Friday tumbled, extending a global rout that saw markets experience their worst day in decades as fears of a worldwide recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic wiped trillions off valuations.

Shell-shocked investors fled for the hills as governments across Europe and in the US struggled to get a grip on the crisis that has swept the planet and shut communities down.

Central bank moves to support financial markets have also failed to staunch the bloodletting, while US President Donald Trump’s decision to shut the US border to European travelers added to the panic.

“Markets remain in a freefall as uncertainty persists, with no reliable anchor which can create near-term stability,” New York-based Medley Global Advisors LLC’s Ben Emons said.

However, after a morning session wipeout across the region, most markets clawed back losses, even if they were still in negative territory as traders picked up bargain-basement stocks.

In Tokyo on Friday, the Nikkei 225, which fell as much as 10 percent at one point, ended down 1,117.13 points, or 6 percent, at 17,442.50, plunging 15.9 percent from a close of 20,749.75 on March 6.

After plunging about 7 percent in early trade, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng on Friday slid 276.16 points, or 1.1 percent, to 24,032.91, a drop of 8 percent from 26,146.67 a week earlier.

Seoul’s KOSPI on Friday managed to trim its losses in half, falling 62.89 points, or 3.4 percent, to close at 1,771.44, plummeting 13.2 percent from a close of 2,040.22 on March 6.

Bangkok, Manila and Singapore also managed to cut their losses by more than half, while Mumbai was up more than 2 percent just hours after a trading halt kicked in because it had fallen more than 9 percent. Manila also rose, having lost almost 10 percent.

The Shanghai Composite on Friday edged down 36.06 points, or 1.2 percent, to 2,887.43, a 4.8 percent drop from a close of 3,034.51 a week earlier.

However, the standout was Sydney, which swung more than 12 percent to end 4.4 percent higher.

“Despite continued uncertainty over the coronavirus spread, some market players with more optimistic outlooks will see current levels as good buying opportunities for medium and long-term plays,” Sydney-based IC Markets’ Nick Twidale said.

Forager Funds Management Pty Ltd’s Steve Johnson described the day’s trade as “completely and utterly nuts.”

Analysts said that Trump’s ban on travel from Europe deeply rattled investors, and measures intended to shore up business and markets were proving insufficient.

“The turmoil in markets has moved up another notch over the past 24 hours with President Trump’s European travel ban and underwhelming stimulatory measures adding more fuel to the fire of uncertainty, instead of providing a dose of reassurance,” National Australia Bank Ltd senior foreign exchange strategist Rodrigo Catril wrote.

“New containment measures to slow the spread of COVID-19 have increased the prospect of a severe global economic growth downturn,” he added.

The crisis has hit the travel industry particularly badly, as new restrictions prompt mass cancelations, while sporting events have been scrapped globally and everything from museums to Walt Disney Co theme parks have shut.

“In mere weeks, the market has shifted gears from a transitory health scare to a full-blown global recession,” AxiCorp Financial Services Pty Ltd market strategist Stephen Innes said.

“Global supply chains are no longer just ‘disrupted,’ but are now in the process of shutting down completely,” he added.

Markets have also been shaken by an oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia, compounded by fears that the travel restrictions will further dampen energy demand.

Additional reporting by staff writer

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content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Coronavirus pandemic empties Spanish resorts of older tourists

On Spain’s Costa Dorada, the Hotel Piramide would normally be heaving with its annual influx of older visitors who regularly come for a spot of welcome winter sun.

However, things are different this year following the cancelation of a popular vacation scheme for seniors due to the COVID-19 crisis.

“We started the year really well, but overnight all that changed and the hotel is practically empty,” said David Rodriguez, director of the hotel, one of the few still open in the resort town of Salou, about 100km down the coast from Barcelona.

As the number of infections has soared, Spain implemented a string of restrictions to slow the spread of the coronavirus, one of which was to scrub a state-sponsored scheme of cheap, low-season getaways for pensioners.

Set up in 1985, the program is hugely popular, attracting about 800,000 participants every year who enjoy a week with meals at one of numerous destinations within Spain for about 200 euros (US$223).

At hotels like the Piramide, a typical complex with pools and sea-facing balconies, these visitors keep businesses going through the lean months of winter.

The town, with its 26,700 residents and Port Aventura theme park, lives off tourism — both domestic and international — welcoming a regular stream of visitors from Britain, France and Russia.

However, from this month until Holy Week, which this year is the second week of next month, the entire complex is filled with older Spanish tourists, Rodriguez said.

By now, the hotel would normally be 80 percent full, he said, but added that facing at least a month of cancelations, everything has changed, with occupancy expected to reach about 15 percent.

The uncertainty has gripped the entire Spanish tourism sector just three weeks ahead of high season, which normally moves into top gear with the Easter holiday.

“Holy Week is the beginning of the season. A bad Holy Week will be a bad start,” said Mar Farriol, owner of Goretti, a restaurant on the waterfront.

“The uncertainty is affecting all of us. Not only the restaurants, but the economy in general. We are all waiting to see how things pan out,” she said.

Even major players are preparing for the worst in Spain, the world’s second-most popular destination, where tourism is key to the economy.

“We’ve never had a crisis like this, such a sudden, widespread drop in activity,” said Cesar Gutierrez, president of FETAVE, which represents the travel agency sector.

“Right now, we are hardly seeing any income, we have a very serious problem of liquidity. If the government doesn’t take steps now, many of us will struggle to survive,” he said.

For now, the government has pledged to plow 400 million euros in liquidity into the hotel and tourism sector.

At the Piramide, a few guests can be seen playing petanque outside, chatting in the restaurant or walking through the semi-deserted streets, past empty apartment blocks or closed shops and bars.

“We’re fine here, there are hardly any cases, but I want to go home to be near my family, just in case,” 76-year-old retiree Manoli Sabido said.

She and her husband, Ramon Moreno, are regulars on this program and had planned another trip in May, although they are unsure if the program will be back on track by then.

“We have to put down the deposit, but we don’t know what to do,” Moreno said.

Others have cut short their vacations in the face of the rapid spread of infections, which have exceeded 4,200 in Spain, alongside 121 dead, and the government is now moving to impose ever-tighter restrictions across the country.

One of them is Paulo Arruarte, who, along with a group of friends, has just packed up his car and is preparing to go home a day earlier to San Sebastian on Spain’s northern coast, which has been badly hit by the virus.

“All the activities we had planned have been stopped or restricted. We’re not doing anything here, so we have decided to go home before they close off our city,” the pensioner said.

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title: USTV 非凡電視台


content_text: 109-03-13高雄市政府環境保護局109-03-12高雄市政府環境保護局109-03-11高雄市那瑪夏區公所109-03-11高雄市立明義國民中學109-03-11高雄市政府勞工局109-03-11高雄市政府法制局109-03-11高雄市政府工務局養護工程處109-03-09高雄市政府工務局

taiwan-subdivisions: 高雄市 那瑪夏區

title: 高雄市政府全球資訊網-中文版


content_text: 新型冠狀病毒讓全球防疫拉警報，勤洗手是避免感染的方法之一。英國一名母親因為擔心孩子不喜歡洗手。在小孩手上畫可愛的圖案，一天下來，看誰先洗掉圖案，洗手頓時成有趣遊戲。國內幼教專家說，其實用鼓勵和同儕力量，讓喜歡玩水的孩子自發性愛洗手，也是不錯的方法。

title: 中視全球資訊網


content_text: 中國外交部發言人趙立堅在推特上質疑「可能是美軍把疫情帶到了武漢」。中國從說到做都希望與負面脫鉤營造負責任形象。

title: 主頁 - BBC News 中文


content_text:
華爾街的混亂周五仍在繼續，道指在經歷了1987年以來最大規模拋售的一天後，又創下2008年以來最大漲幅。本周道指累計下跌10%。

美國國債收益率大漲，因股市飆升 美聯儲將向短期融資市場注資1.5兆美元 美股本輪熊市會持續多久？

title: 華爾街日報中文網_突發新聞，商業，經濟，金融，財經，國際新聞，多媒體，視頻_華爾街日報中文版_WSJ_The Wall Street Journal


content_text: 台灣再新增3例武漢肺炎的確診病例，都是境外移入，其中案例51是30多歲荷蘭籍男性，10號入境台灣後就有呼吸困難的現象，目前住院隔離，另外兩例則是本國籍男性，因為都有是...

countries: 台灣 荷蘭

title: W_壹新聞


content_text:
鼓勵青年在屏東發展，縣府推出「屏東好貼薪」、「青創好夥伴」、「縣府挺起家」協助青年就業、創業、安居在屏東！
...詳全文

taiwan-subdivisions: 屏東縣 屏東

title: 屏東縣政府全球資訊網


content_text:
最新疫情：中國13日新增確診11例 境外輸入7例
3月13日0—24時，31個省(自治區、直轄市)和新疆生產建設兵團報告新增確診病例11例，新增死亡病例13例(湖北13例)，新增疑似病例17例。當日新增治愈出院病例1430例，解除醫學觀察的密切接觸者2174人，重癥病例減少410例。

突破100萬！港人聯署撐23條立法的“小目標”輕松完成
香港立法會議員何君堯早前呼籲特區政府在2020年5月前，將《基本法》第23條立法草案交付立法會進行三讀。“23同盟”也隨之成立，並於網上發起聯署活動，呼籲香港市民支持《基本法》第23條立法。截至3月13日淩晨2時，參與聯署人數已突破100萬。

拜暴徒所賜！香港這家知名甜品店恐成集體回憶
多芒小丸子、金粉撈丸子、鮮什果芒果布甸、芒果撈野、木瓜椰汁雪蛤膏、椰汁雪蛤官燕撈……這些熟悉的招牌甜品恐怕要變成集體回憶！

countries: 中國 香港

title: 香港新聞網-香港中國通訊社主辦 www.hkcna.hk


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taiwan-subdivisions: 中正區 臺北市

title: 最新消息 | 政府資料開放平臺


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title: 兩岸


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title: 新聞發布


content_text:
樹林戶政所搭配疫情時事，贈送新人最熱門的防疫物品口罩套，既實用也有「罩」住幸福與愛情的意涵。 圖：新北市民政局提供
今天是3月14日白色情人節，也是「3.14」圓周率日，新北市各戶政事務所為祝賀新人，特別佈置拍照專區讓新人盡情放閃，並致贈包裝喜氣的小禮物獻上祝福，讓整個戶所洋溢著幸福氛圍，共有69對新人在新北市完成結婚登記，其中樹林戶所致贈口罩套，既因應疫情，也「罩」住幸福與愛情，相當具有巧思。

新北市民政局長柯慶忠說，近年愈來愈多新人喜歡以特殊或諧音的日子作為結婚紀念日，今年白色情人節適逢週六假日，新北戶所同樣供加值服務，讓新人可以在白色情人節完成終身大事。

戶政科長顏耀明表示，今天各戶所紛紛發揮創意送上祝福，例如金山戶所結合最火紅的浪漫韓劇《愛的迫降》，打造劇中男女主角浪漫相遇的熱氣球，讓新人乘坐熱氣球拍照打卡；樹林戶所搭配新冠肺炎疫情時事，贈送新人最熱門的防疫物品口罩套，既實用也有「罩」住幸福與愛情的意涵。

在新店戶所結婚登記的梁先生及太太，兩人在瑞士攻讀飯店管理而相識相戀，梁先生為了太太放棄美國高薪工作，隨同太太前往澳門從事餐飲管理事業，因脊椎腰傷復發，太太當時細心照料、不離不棄，讓梁先生興起給她一個家的念頭，因此在加拿大自助旅途中下跪求婚成功，原訂今天宴客，卻因疫情延期，但兩人仍選在白色情人節完成人生大事，象徵對彼此心意的風雨無阻。

在汐止戶所登記的李先生與唐小姐，2人均從事製造業，五年前透過朋友介紹交往，唐小姐為與李先生共築愛巢，毅然辭去新竹工作，到汐止重覓新職。兩人正式交往日就在五年前的3月14日，因此特別選在這天結婚，且今年適逢2020年諧音「愛你愛你」，而3月14日又諧音「閃一世」，感覺特別浪漫且有紀念意義。

透過網路交友軟體配對認識的倪先生與陳小姐，也選擇今日在永和戶所完成終身大事，倪先生說因工作關係時常需要出差國外，仰望星空時總會想起在地球另一邊的她，希望她能永遠在身旁。兩人選在314完成結婚登記，也代表兩人愛情如同一個完整的圓圈，又如圓周率的數字般無窮盡到永恆。

journalist: 王峻昌

countries: 瑞士 澳門 加拿大 美國

taiwan-subdivisions: 新北 新店 成功 新竹 汐止 新北市 樹林 永和 金山

title: 白色情人節！新北戶所為69對新人甜蜜加分「罩」住愛情 | 生活


content_text:
在新冠肺炎大流行的巨大陰影籠罩下，全球市場過去一周來行情劇烈擺盪，令許多人大開眼界。從股市、債市到原油和黃金市場，出現太多「自何年何月何日以來最大漲（跌）幅」，令人目不暇接。狂野的一周雖已落幕，這種劇烈波動可能還會持續一段時日。

下列數字凸顯出，上周市況有多麼誇張：

• 美國股市跌入熊市（空頭市場），正式終結歷時11年的牛市（多頭市場）。

• 華爾街周四（12日）遭遇1987年10月19日「黑色星期一」以來最黑暗的一天，當日美股標普500指數崩跌9.5%，道瓊工業指數一天之內狂瀉2,353點、創史上最大單日跌點紀錄。

• 紐約聯邦準備銀行宣示將在金融體系挹注1.5兆美元，以安撫市場顧慮。

• 從周一到周五，道瓊指數收盤漲/跌幅都超過千點，包括周一和周四各崩跌逾2,000點，以及周五飆漲近2,000點。

• 周二（10日），標普500指數出現2018年12月來最大單日漲幅，同日道瓊工業指數創歷來第三大單日漲點紀錄。

• 美股周五（13日）演出2008年來最強勁的反彈走勢。道瓊指數飆漲1,985點，創史上最大漲點紀錄，三大指數漲幅都超過9%。

• 紐約證交所（NYSE）一周來兩度暫停交易，分別在周一和周四，因為標普500指數急跌7%後觸動熔斷機制。

而且，瘋狂走勢不只局限於股市。

• 沙烏地阿拉伯和俄羅斯價格戰準備開打，震撼國際油市，導致油價在周一（9日）遭遇1991年波灣戰來最大跌幅。一周來，倫敦布蘭特原油暴跌25%，紐約西德州輕原油跌23%。

• 債市也遭遇驚濤駭浪，美國10年期公債殖利率先在周一降到史上最低點，一度觸及0.32%。但在白宮宣布抗疫經濟刺激措施激勵下，10年期公債殖利率周五挺升10.4個基點至0.946%，一周來躍升23.7個基點，是去年9月來最大升幅。

• 傳統避險資產黃金則慘遭投資人拋售變現，黃金4月期貨跌4.6%至每英兩1,516.7美元。一周來黃金期貨價跌掉9.3%，是2011年9月23日來最大周線跌幅。

市場人士認為，行情如翹翹板一般瘋狂擺盪、波動劇烈的市況，還會再持續一陣子。畢竟，新冠疫情才剛登陸美國，確診病例可能隨全國各地檢測能量提升而增加，這對近期美股展望不利。

此外，隨著第1季經濟數據將陸續出爐，是否透露經濟成長減弱、甚至可能步向衰退的訊息，也將牽動投資人敏感神經。第1季企業財報季再過數周也將開鑼，疫情對企業財務衝擊多大，投資人也將密切關注。

journalist: 編譯湯淑君／綜合外電

countries: 美國 俄羅斯 沙烏地阿拉伯

things: 經濟 油價

title: 股債油金市場經歷狂野的一周 劇烈波動還沒完


content_text:
長島納蘇郡(Nassau County)郡長庫倫(Laura Curran)14日上午12時宣布，全郡新增19名新冠狀肺炎病患，總計70人，其中十人入院治療，三人病情危重，她還承諾該郡日後將迎來第一個「得來速」(drive-thru)，加快新冠肺炎病毒的檢測，「這也意味我們的確診人數將越來越多」。

庫倫說，截止14日上午，全郡有19例新增新冠肺炎患者，累積70例，其中244人強制隔離；她說，隨著確診數量的增加，強制隔離的人數也將增加，「如果你被要求強制隔離，必須要隔離，目前社區傳播仍是最危險的傳播方式」。

針對目前的病例，庫倫說，十人入院治療，三名病情危重，其中兩人的年齡分別為57歲與66歲；她補充，隨著該郡確診病例的增加，越來越多的青少年在網絡上針對確診者與被隔離的同學進行霸凌，她呼籲這些施暴者停止霸凌，家長與老師正確引導。

journalist: 記者牟蘭／紐約報導

title: 紐約長島納蘇郡確診70例 三人危重


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紐約市衛生局規定，民眾如有發燒、咳嗽、呼吸短促等症狀，或有曾赴中國、韓國、義大利等病毒高度傳播地帶的旅遊史，或曾與已經確診新冠肺炎的病患有過密切接觸，則符合受檢條件；如有新冠檢測需求，民眾應首先與家庭醫生聯繫，家庭醫生在知悉情況後，則會與市衛生局評估該名疑似患者是否具備受檢資格；民眾如需家庭醫生的推薦，可致電311問詢。

對居家自我監測，市衛生局則作出以下規定：在過去兩周曾在中國、韓國、義大利、伊朗等地作過停留的無症狀人士，需在離開這些國家後，進行兩周的居家隔離及自我監測；居家隔離時，需每天兩次測量體溫，如果出現發燒、咳嗽、呼吸困難等症狀，需致電市衛生局(347)396-7990，並避免與他人有六呎以內的近距離接觸。

居家隔離時，如果出現緊急醫療狀況，應立即致電911；如果因其他的慢性病等情況需要外出就醫，則需在就診前先聯絡家庭醫生。

如果感到不知所措或者焦慮，且持續時間超過一個月，或者已經無法從事日常活動，則應致電市「健康紐約」(NYC Well)心理健康熱線(888)692-9355或傳送短信WELL至65173；「健康紐約」心理熱線全天候接聽，用200多種語言提供心理輔導與治療。

在居家隔離及自我監測期間，不應去上班、上學或參加公共活動；如需向學校及雇主提供醫生證明，則可登錄網站http://www.nyc.gov/health/coronavirus/下載並打印證明；如果在為期兩周的居家隔離中未出現發燒、咳嗽或呼吸困難的症狀，則可以重返工作崗位或學校課堂。

journalist: 記者鄭怡嫣／紐約報導

countries: 伊朗 義大利 中國 韓國

title: 衛生局：自我監測者 避免與人6呎內接觸


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中共中央總書記習近平昨日分別致電給義大利、伊朗與南韓三國領導人，這三個國家是中國以外疫情最嚴重之地。習近平在電話中均表示會向他們提供援助，抗擊疫情。

新華社報導，習近平致電給義大利總統馬達雷拉，指出值此意方困難時刻，中國政府和人民堅定支持意方抗擊疫情的努力，願開展合作，提供幫助。今年是中義建交50周年，相信在攜手應對疫情的努力中，中義傳統友誼將更加堅固，合作內涵將更加豐富。

在致電給伊朗總統魯哈尼時，習近平指出，幫助伊朗抗擊疫情，中方向伊方提供了一批抗疫物資，派出了志願衛生專家團隊。中方願同伊方加強抗疫合作，並繼續向伊方提供力所能及的幫助。相信伊朗政府和人民一定能打贏這場疫情防控戰。

習近平在與南韓總統文在寅通話時，指出南韓政府和社會各界此前紛向中方抗擊疫情表達關心慰問並提供大量幫助，文在寅還特別強調中國的困難就是南韓的困難。

習近平指出，疫情沒有國界，世界各國是休戚與共的命運共同體，中國政府和中國人民對韓方目前遭受的疫情和困難感同身受。中方將繼續提供力所能及的援助，支持南韓抗擊疫情，願同南韓攜手合作，早日共同戰勝疫情，維護兩國人民和世界人民生命安全和身體健康。

journalist: 記者呂佳蓉／即時報導

countries: 伊朗 義大利 中國

title: 習近平致電義大利、伊朗、南韓領導人 願援助抗疫


countries: 沙烏地阿拉伯 俄羅斯 美國

things: 油價 經濟

title: 股債油金市場經歷狂野的一周 劇烈波動還沒完


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來自墨西哥的變性女子雅麗珊卓‧耶斯跨界到亞利桑納州尋求庇護時遭ICE拘留，當局卻將她與男人們安置在同一個空間長達9個月，讓她在期間遭受性侵犯和性騷擾。圖為呼籲民眾致電聲援耶斯，要求釋放她的廣告 。(取自推特)
公民維權團體表示，一名來自墨西哥的變性女子跨界到亞利桑納州尋求庇護時遭ICE拘留，當局卻將她與男性安置在同一個空間長達九個月，讓她在期間遭受性侵犯和性騷擾。

由美國公民自由聯盟(ACLU)等維權團體表示，該名變性女子是24歲的雅麗珊卓‧耶斯(Alejandra Alor Reyes)，因為變性的身分在墨西哥遭到歧視和辱罵，才會決定跨越國界來到美國尋求庇護；在她進入美國前曾被當地人綁架和毆打，大拇指的一部分甚至被切除。

據維權團體們指出，耶斯從去年6月進入美國後就一直被拘留到現在，期間還曾被單獨禁閉長達一個月，後來又受到許多傷害和侮辱，導致她現在罹患創傷後壓力症候群(PTSD)。

當耶斯的庇護訴求被駁回時，維權團體認為當局將耶斯單獨拘留的時間過長已經違反規定，要求聯邦移民和海關執法局(Immigration and Customs Enforcement，ICE)釋放耶斯；ACLU的代表律師依薇特‧波亞(Yvette Borja)說：「ICE不但無法提供耶斯庇護的需求，甚至更進一步的拘留她傷害她。」

ICE的發言人潔絲敏‧奧基夫(Yasmeen Pitts O'Keefe)表示：「任何多元性別和性向族群的人士(LGBTI)被拘留的期間，ICE仍視被告的健康狀況、身心安全、以及權益為優先。」

ICE表示去年8月曾提議將耶斯轉到專為變性人設置的拘留所，卻被耶斯拒絕；但據悉位於新墨西哥州的移民安置中心，雖然是全國唯一為變性人移民所設置的，但今年1月卻因長期醫療資源不足和虐待等指控而被迫關閉。

2018年一名來自宏都拉斯的33歲女子羅珊娜‧赫南德斯(Roxana Hernandez)，在該移民安置中心死亡；驗屍報告指出死因是愛滋病引發的罕見疾病，但維權團體卻指控，是因為赫南德斯沒有得到應有的醫療照護。

journalist: 編譯林梅婕／綜合13日電

countries: 宏都拉斯 墨西哥 美國

events: 性侵 性騷擾 死亡

title: 墨國變性人來美求庇護 被關男性拘留所遭性侵


content_text:
紐約州長葛謨(Andrew Cuomo)14日上午在電話會議上表示，紐約州出現首起新冠肺炎死亡病例，為曼哈頓一名82歲女性，於13日晚間死亡，她患有肺部慢性疾病，於3日入住布碌崙(布魯克林)維克福高地醫療中心(Wyckoff Heights Medical Center)。

紐約州已有524名確診病例，比前日增加百人，其中紐約市213例，新增59例，威徹斯特郡(Westchester)172例，新增14例；全州已有3994人接受檢測。

➤➤➤點我看更多《紐約新冠疫情》相關報導

journalist: 記者金春香／紐約報導

events: 死亡 新冠肺炎

title: 紐約州首例死亡為曼哈頓82歲女性 州確診524人


content_text:
州長葛謨(Andrew Cuomo)13日宣布，至當日下午，全州已有421名確診新冠肺炎病例，比前一天再增96人；為加速檢測效率，紐約州第一個「得來速」(drive-thru)新冠病毒檢測點，13日在重災區威徹斯特郡(Westchester County)新羅謝爾(New Rochelle)開啟，民眾可直接駕車前來接受檢測。

由於受疫情影響，會有很多人失去工作，葛謨並宣布，立即免除失業者申請失業保險金的七天等待時間，以保證民眾獲得基本生活保障。

根據州府數據，全州421名確診病患，有50人住院治療、住院率12%，其中有18人病情較重；目前全州共有5萬3000個病床，及3200個ICU病床。

葛謨表示，義大利疫情失控，是因為沒有足夠的ICU病床提供給重症患者，美國和紐約州也可能面臨病床短缺情況，因此州府在與醫療機構進行密切監控，也建議在未來一兩個月內有預約手術者，如果不是必需，最好改期進行。

設在新羅謝爾的「得來速」(drive-thru)新冠病毒檢測點，13日開始啟用，當天便接待約200車輛，日後將增加到每日500輛；該檢測點優先服務住在新羅謝爾疫情爆發中心方圓一哩範圍內設立的「控制區」內民眾，服務完這些民眾後，威徹斯特郡其他民眾都可以相繼接受檢測，但必須先電話預約：(888)364-3065。

檢測服務由諾斯韋爾醫療中心(Northwell Health Labs)提供，幫助加快檢測速度，提供民眾便捷服務，這也是美國東岸首個醫療相關「得來速」服務。

除「得來速」及與州府合作的28間公立和私立實驗室外，葛謨還宣布州府會與BioReference Laboratories合作，每天額外再進行5000個檢測；目前州府已獲得聯邦授權自行檢測權，州內下周起每天可進行6000例檢測，全州至13日下午已進行3200例檢測。

截至 13日，紐約市確診病例有154例、新增59例；威徹斯特郡(Westchester County)158例，新增十例；長島納蘇郡(Nassau County)新增十例至51例，蘇福克郡(Suffolk County)新增八例至28例；州府奧伯尼(Albany)新增一例至兩例，達切斯郡(Dutchess County)新增兩例至三例，橘郡(Orange County)新增兩例至三例，洛克蘭郡(Rockland County)新增兩例至九例，阿爾斯特郡(Ulster County)新增一例至五例；香奈塔地(Schenectady)為最新出現一例確診病例的郡。

重災區新羅謝爾地區全部十所學校都關閉至本月25日。

countries: 美國 義大利

events: 新冠病毒 新冠肺炎

title: 「得來速」檢測新冠病毒 紐約州開例 申請失業金免除7天等待期


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新型冠狀病毒疫情擴散，讓許多人對飛沫等傳播方式避之唯恐不及，中國近期開始出現提倡「公筷公勺」的聲音。上海黃浦區100家餐飲企業已率先推廣使用「公筷公勺」；江蘇泰州則出台了全中國首個「公勺公筷使用規範」地方標準，除明確規範公勺公筷規格，還要求兩人以上、宅家吃飯都要使用公勺公筷，引發網友質疑推動困難，認為官方「管太多」。

澎湃新聞報導，上海市向全體市民發布使用公筷公勺倡議：聚餐時不要忘記為每一道菜加公筷或公勺。無論是在飯店還是和家人用餐，都請使用公筷公勺。全上海市16個區積極回應一筷一勺，首批率先推廣「公筷公勺」的黃浦區100家餐飲企業，在就餐場所以海報、LED屏宣傳，並統一要求餐飲服務人員提醒使用公筷公勺；對公筷公勺做到一用一消，嚴防交叉感染。

包括老字號的杏花樓、沈大成、老正興、老半齋等帶頭以身作則。澎湃新聞報導，例如杏花樓集團新雅粵菜館就自行設計了公叉勺，提高顧客新鮮感及使用率。

黃浦區衛健委表示，推廣「公筷公勺」將打造「六有」服務標準，有宣傳、有標識、有提醒、有消毒、有創新、有推廣，初期結合抽獎、優惠券等舉措宣導，將「公筷公勺」理念推廣至家庭。

新京報報導，江蘇泰州9日出台全國首個「公勺公筷使用規範」中，對公勺公筷的材質、顏色、長度、擺放位置、使用方法等都有明確規範，且在家吃飯也適用。根據規範，公勺公筷是「兩人以上同桌共餐時，用以舀（夾）取菜（點）的勺子、筷子」，且應符合食品安全國家標準要求，顏色宜為白色或接近白色，並且要明顯不同於自用筷、勺。較粗一端要有「公勺」、「公筷」字樣，且公筷的長度要比自用筷長三、四厘米。

許多網友在表示支持的同時，也對泰州的標準提出「執行難」的質疑。

有網友說，家庭日常用餐也要按人數配備公筷公勺，作法「不現實」，「一家人還要公筷公勺，總是『不好意思』，特別是長輩，誰敢糾正？」有網友認為規範中「兩人以上同桌共餐」就需使用公筷公勺的規定太嚴格，「若按此標準，我們一家五口人，吃一頓飯就要有10雙筷子，想想好可怕」。

另有網友說，夫妻、情侶之間拿公筷「太尷尬」，且易被人誤認感情不好；且「講衛生的，不用你管；不講衛生的，你管不住」；還有網友說「西方人分餐制，不一樣得新冠！」

journalist: 中國新聞組／北京14日電

title: 2人以上、宅家吃飯規範用公筷公勺 網友：官方管太多


content_text:
聯邦勞工統計局最近公告2028年前最具成長力的五大工作領域，專家表示，部分產業「薪」情看好。

1. 餐飲業

工作包括廚師、服務員、速食店員工等，未來8年預計有263萬8000個職缺。餐廳主廚的年薪中位數為4萬8460元，主廚需要五年以上經歷加上社區大學或專科學校的訓練，才能獲得這個頭銜。

2. 運輸與物流

工作包括公車司機、鐵路員工、航管員等，未來8年預計有143萬5600個職缺。以航管員為例，負責飛機起降距離的航管員的年薪中位數為12萬4540元 。想加入航管員的行列，必須是美國公民，有相關科系學歷，並接受航管系統訓練。

3. 個人照護與服務

工作包括個人照護助理、兒童照護員工、護理師等，未來8年預計有126萬6600個職缺。勞工統計局表示，考量老年人口偏好居家治療，護理師將是健康照護領域成長最快的工作。任職於醫院、醫師辦公室、照護機構的護理師，或居家護理師的年薪中位數為7萬1730元。

4. 管理

工作包括行政服務經理、報酬與福利經理、財務經理和電腦與資訊系統經理等，未來8年預計有95萬5100個職缺。勞工統計局表示，電腦與資訊系統經理的年薪中位數為14萬2530元，理想的候選人必須有學士和碩士的電腦與資訊科學學位。

5. 教育、訓練和圖書館

工作包括高中與大專院校教師、博物館員工、圖書館員、教學協調員等，未來8年預計有93萬7000個職缺。在大專授課的教育者年薪中位數為7萬8470元；勞工統計局預估，商業領域的教師有最佳機會，教授至少需要碩士學位才能指導大學生，但往往有博士學位。

journalist: 編譯陳韻涵╱綜合報導

title: 求職或轉行？ 5大產業「薪」情好


content_text:
紐約市至少已有四所公立學校因出現新冠狀病毒確診病例而暫時關閉，眾多家長和教師都呼籲全市停課，請願教育局關閉所有學校；但直至13日，市長白思豪(Bill de Blasio)仍表示將繼續保持公校正常運營，只將出現病例的學校暫時關閉，進行清潔後重開。

白思豪表示，本周五全市學生出勤率為68%，雖然較本周一的89%和周四的85%出勤率有所下降，但仍然顯示大部分學生都照常上學，說明眾多家長和學生依賴公校教育和服務。

他當天上午在紐約公共電台(WNYC)訪談節目「布萊恩李爾秀」(The Brian Lehrer Show)上也表示，就算學校停課，也無法阻止學生間的相互接觸，因此為廣大需要公校午餐的低收入家庭考慮，在未獲得衛生局確診更多公校學生或教職人員感染前，不會關閉所有公校。

紐約市13日再關至少三間學校，其中位於史泰登島新鐸高中(New Dorp High School)和Hungerford School共用一棟教學樓，由於一名學生確診新冠病毒，兩所學校皆關閉，將於下周一重開；另外布碌崙(布魯克林)學院(Brooklyn College)由於出現一名學生自報感染新冠病毒決定關閉，下周一重開；四間位於布碌崙的職業中心，由於一名老師自報感染新冠病毒而關閉，不確定重開日期。

市議長張晟(Cory Johnson)則呼籲公立學校應盡快停課，他說這雖然是一個困難的決定，「但我們必須採取更積極的措施停止新冠狀病毒的擴散，市府必須推出計畫，包括為必須繼續工作的市民的孩童提供照顧，特別是醫護人員子女，也必須確保所有學生獲得充足食物與醫藥。」市議員陳倩雯也支持公校停課。

根據市府數據，目前紐約市有29人被要求隔離，1784人自願在家隔離；市府並建議全市10%員工、約3萬5000人在家辦公，全市20%人口、約7萬1000人實行倒班制。

欲獲得有關紐約市新冠疫情最新信息，可發送「COVID」至692-692。

events: 新冠病毒 冠狀病毒

title: 議長家長老師皆籲關校 市長堅決不停課


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2020年首場水逆終於過了，大家過得還好嗎？既然熬過了不順的水逆，那麼好運終於要來了吧，其實有不少星座已經開始迎來好運，快來看看12星座，各自有哪些不同的好運吧！

牡羊：人際關係

水逆後，牡羊的人際關係開始變好了，在工作上可能也多了合作關係，或是與許久不見了朋友重新聯絡上，這些都是好運的代表。

金牛：事業

金牛座在工作上，終於可以揚眉吐氣了，職場上會有所突破，運氣夠好的話，或許可以升官喔。

雙子：內在心靈

這些日子，雙子座在生活中辛苦了，水逆之後，雙子會開始在內在心靈中得到滿足，重新找到方向與目標。

巨蟹：財運

巨蟹在經歷水逆之後，內心更強大了，對於一些事情看得更透徹，而且這段時間還可能有財運上身，真是讓人好羨慕。

獅子：感情與合作關係

單身的施子座，終於有機會脫單了，有好對象要好好把握，另外在工作上的合作關係，也會更為融洽。

處女：工作

處女之前經歷工作上的不順，這陣子總算會明顯工作變順了，一切都變得更美好了。

天秤：愛情與創意

天秤也是即將面對愛情的人，單身有機會脫單，如果有另一半，感情會更加穩固，另外這段時間，在工作上會有不少創意，會受到賞識。

天蠍：回歸家中

這段期間，天蠍的好運發生在家中，譬如家人間的關係等，因此要常常回家，與家人多互動啊。

射手：人際關係

射手的好運來自於人際關係，這段時間得要好好把握，透過人際關係可以讓人生開闊不少。

摩羯：財運大發

這回的摩羯座，在工作上會發現不少財運，可能會加薪，或是有額外的獎金。

水瓶：更認清自己

與其對自己的未來什麼都不了解，水瓶這段時間，會更了解自己想要什麼，懂得去爭取了。

雙魚：內心富足

雙魚座這段期間，在內心會比較安定，且感受到富足，透過做一些事情，能有全新的體悟。

journalist: 記者劉小川／台北報導

taiwan-subdivisions: 獅子 安定

title: 今年首場水逆終於過了！12星座好運公開 獅子天秤脫單


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法新社報導，北約（NATO）前秘書長索拉納（Javier Solana）罹患新冠肺炎，正住院治療。

一名西班牙政界消息人士透露，77歲的索拉納採檢結果為陽性，目前在馬德里的一家醫院療養，恢復情況不錯。索拉納在推特回應外界關心，表示他病情有改善。

索拉納曾擔任西班牙外長，1995至1999年擔任北約秘書長，1999至2009年出任歐盟外交事務高級代表。

西班牙疫情13日至14日間暴增逾1500例確診，累計5753人，死亡133人，是歐洲第二嚴重的疫情國，次於義大利。

➤➤➤點我看更多《名人染疫》相關報導

journalist: 編譯莊蕙嘉／即時報導

countries: 西班牙 義大利 歐盟

events: 新冠肺炎 死亡

title: 北約前秘書長索拉納 確診新冠肺炎住院


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防疫時期，不少原定的大型活動都相繼停辦或延後，但台北市長柯文哲，堅持台北杜鵑花季照常辦理，還親自出席。柯文哲輕描淡寫說、不要太過驚慌、戴口罩也可以出門活動，而他評估，疫情恐怕會延續到第三季。

看板寫著兩人坐一排、還呼籲戴口罩、就在不少活動取消或延期時、台北市杜鵑花節照辦、柯文哲照常出席。堅持活動照辦、不過取消了野餐或餐飲攤販，避免民眾拿下口罩。不過新北已經開始要求退休人員支援、台北市如何佈署。黨內近來被桃園市議員王浩宇、不斷爆料，柯文哲低調反擊。王浩宇連續攻擊，重傷民眾黨形象柯文哲嘴上說沒問題，恐怕還是很在意

people: 柯文哲 王浩宇

taiwan-subdivisions: 桃園 新北

title: 杜鵑花季照常跑 柯:戴口罩也可出來活動　估疫情延燒第3季 柯防疫戰略勿過度使用 - 台視新聞


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台再新增3境外移入確診 皆有歐洲旅遊史
荷蘭籍副機師 3/10入境3/11呼吸困難送檢
北部30歲確診男 3/8入境3/12出現症狀採檢
案53赴德國出差 3/6返台3/11咳嗽3/14確診
英鼓勵輕症患者不需就醫 專家:台暫不需要
國內再新增3名武漢肺炎確診個案，通通都有歐洲活動史！其中案51是一名荷蘭籍的副機師，從荷蘭來台、10號入境，11號晚上因為呼吸困難、胸悶及全身倦怠急診就醫，採檢確診；案52則是在2月28號到3月7號，經由土耳其轉機往返瑞士，期間也跑到法國旅遊，12號晚間出現發燒、咳嗽等症狀；而案53則是6號從德國出差回來，11號出現咳嗽.喉痛症狀，目前正進一步追蹤三人的密切接觸者。

國內14號 新增3例，武漢肺炎 確診個案，三人分別從 荷蘭，土耳其 以及 德國返台，三名患者都有 歐洲活動史，其中案51 是一名荷蘭籍 航空副機師， 3月2號到6號 先前往奧地利，9號從荷蘭來台 隔天入境，11號晚上 出現呼吸困難 胸悶，全身倦怠等症狀，送醫急診 診斷出肺炎，因此通報採檢 確診，案52 是 北部30多歲男性，2月28號 到3月7號經由土耳其轉機 往返瑞士，期間還到 法國滑雪，8號入境台灣，12號 出現症狀，當天就醫 通報採檢，至於案53 北部30多歲男性，則是到德國出過差，6號返台 11號出現咳嗽有痰，喉嚨痛等症狀，當晚就醫 於14號確診，目前正在追蹤三人的密切接觸者另一方面英國政府 最近被認為佛系防疫鼓勵輕症患者 先自主隔離，不需就醫 專家怎麼說，專家表示 患者感染後，有可能 變成重症，加上國內醫療資源還有餘裕，因此不會採取英國的防疫方式。

countries: 荷蘭 土耳其 奧地利 德國 英國 台灣 瑞士 法國

title: 台再新增3境外移入確診 皆有歐洲旅遊史　荷蘭籍副機師 3/10入境3/11呼吸困難送檢 - 台視新聞


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恐怖病毒! 武漢肺炎輕症轉重症僅1週時間
輕症或中度患者占8成 若輕忽惡化迅速
公主號無症狀確診 9成入院6天一採陰性
5成入院9天二採陰性 1成15天解除隔離
"陽轉陰"需長時間 醫:疑採檢到病毒屍體
武漢肺炎疫情往全世界擴散，根據中國臨床觀察到的病程進展，發現人體感染病毒時，都是先從輕微上呼吸道症狀開始，初估輕症或中度患者大約占8成，但是如果病毒隨著氣管往下，感染到肺部，就會攻擊纖毛組織和產生黏液的細胞，導致呼吸急促，甚至會使肺炎迅速惡化成為重症，國內醫師也表示，這樣輕症轉重症的過程，大約只需要一週；另外日本研究公主號確診患者發現，無症狀的人有半數以上，採檢陽轉陰，需要耗時9天以上，還有1成患者，最長需要15天，時程比預期還長。

民眾 進出醫院，通通得經過 發燒篩檢，嚴密 控管體溫，全力防堵 武漢肺炎入侵，儘管國內確診患者，多數 都是輕症，但研究指出，一旦感染 擴及肺部，病情很有可能 如滾雪球般，一下子變得 非常嚴重，根據數據統計 目前武漢肺炎，輕微和中度患者 占了8成，病毒多數情況，會先滯留 鼻腔 喉嚨，引發咳嗽 和 上呼吸道症狀，之後病毒會沿著氣管，一路向下，落到肺部 攻擊纖毛組織，和產生黏液的細胞，導致 呼吸急促，肺炎迅速惡化，從輕症 變成重症，最快只需要1週時間，另外，日本也針對 鑽石公主號中，90位無症狀 確診患者，進行研究 每兩天採檢一次，結果指出 有9成個案，在入院6天後 可以一採陰性，半數以上 要在入院9天，連續二採陰性， 甚至有1成患者，最長得等到15天，才能達到 解除隔離標準， 國內醫師 認為，陽轉陰需要這麼長時間，很有可能是 因為採檢到病毒屍體，檢驗方式 也會影響準確度，相關調查數據，以及檢驗 相隔時間，還是得由專家 仔細評估。

countries: 日本 中國

title: 恐怖病毒! 武漢肺炎輕症轉重症僅1週時間　輕症或中度患者占8成 若輕忽惡化迅速 - 台視新聞


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受到疫情影響，旅宿業市場進入寒冬，業者為了要自救，推出優惠方案，像是知名飯店推出抹茶山攻頂遊程，如果搭配住宿現省400元，還有渡假酒店趁著週末特別舉辦戶外音樂會，希望透過豐富的活動，帶動人潮回流。

弦樂團演奏，悠揚的音樂搭配涼風吹拂，浪漫的戶外音樂會讓週末下午茶時光，脫離繁忙生活步調。宜蘭一家渡假酒店，趁著假日舉辦活動，遊客一聽音樂、一邊品嘗咖啡，還能遠眺龜山島，多重享受 一次滿足。防疫期間，業者推活動，希望吸引民眾走出門，上山參加戶外活動 遠離人群，而同樣在宜蘭 還有一家知名飯店，也推出抹茶山攻頂行程，邀請大家一起爬爬山 遠離病毒。不僅有一日遊登山加泡湯行程，如果搭配住宿 一個人還能省下400元，活動一推受到廣大迴響。業者用戶外活動來吸引客人回流，希望可以趕快度過旅遊業寒冬。

taiwan-subdivisions: 龜山 宜蘭

title: 飯店祭優惠渡疫情寒冬 住宿+登山省400元　渡假酒店週末音樂會 品咖啡遠眺龜山島 - 台視新聞