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Virus Outbreak: Ministry reports a spike in furloughed workers

The number of furloughed workers in Taiwan jumped by more than 2,000 in the first two weeks of this month as businesses were hurt by a general slowdown caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, the Ministry of Labor said yesterday.

As of Sunday, 3,835 workers at 109 companies were on unpaid leave, up from 1,662 workers at 41 businesses as of Feb. 29, ministry figures showed.

Most of the new companies that had workers go on unpaid leave after reaching labor-management agreements had fewer than 50 workers, and they generally had their workers take off five to eight days per month.

The Coast Guard Administration’s Facebook page on March 5 shows ficitional characters personifying six government agencies and medical personnel as part of its disease-prevention promotion efforts.
 Screen grab from Coast Guard Administration’s Facebook page

They were generally in the hotel, restaurant, retail and tourism sectors — those most effected by the outbreak, Department of Labor Standards and Equal Employment Deputy Director Huang Wei-chen (黃維琛) said.

Just over 1,000 workers in the hospitality sector were on unpaid leave in the first two weeks of this month, when 26 retailers, 12 travel agencies, 15 hotels and 11 restaurants launched unpaid leave programs.

However, it was the metal/engineering sector that registered the highest number of furloughed workers in the first two weeks, at 1,491, due to disruptions in supply of components from China, Huang said.

The tourism and restaurant sectors were hit hard by a fall in inbound tourists due to travel bans or restrictions imposed by the government and other countries around the world to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Taiwan requires travelers from dozens of countries where there have been outbreaks to undergo 14-day self-quarantine upon arrival, which has deterred overseas visitors.

In other news, the Coast Guard Administration on March 5 introduced fictional characters belonging to what it calls the “epidemic prevention boy band” (防疫少年團), or “Be The Standby” in English, on Facebook as part of its public awareness efforts to combat COVID-19.

The agency said a staff member came up with the idea, adding that it was inspired by the South Korean boy band BTS.

“Be The Standby” includes characters personifying the Coast Guard Administration, the National Police Agency, the National Immigration Agency, the Customs Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and the Ministry of Health and Welfare, as well as one dressed in protective clothing who represents medical personnel.

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AUTO PARTS

Tong Yang profit up 34%

Automotive metal sheet and bumper manufacturer Tong Yang Industry Co (東陽實業) yesterday posted a pretax profit of NT$153 million (US$5.06 million) for last month, up 34 percent year-on-year, thanks to rising aftermarket sales and more working days than February last year. Combined pretax profit in the first two months of the year was NT$297 million, or earnings per share of NT$0.53, the company said in an e-mail. Despite uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Tong Yang said it plans to focus on niche goods, such as water-based coating and electroplating products, while strengthening its competitiveness in lightweight technology and product research to ensure adequate supplies of parts to automakers in Taiwan and China, the e-mail said.

STEELMAKERS

Buyback fails to halt slide

Shares of Yieh Phui Enterprise Co Ltd (燁輝企業), the nation’s largest manufacturer of galvanized steel, yesterday closed 2 percent lower, despite the company announcing a share buyback program to safeguard the interests of its shareholders. The shares closed at NT$8.35 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The company said its board of directors had approved a plan to repurchase 100 million shares, or 5.23 percent of its issued shares, on the open market. Yieh Phui planned to buy back the shares at NT$8 to NT$9.50 from yesterday through May 15, the company said in a filing with the exchange. Due to falling steel prices, the company’s consolidated revenue fell 18.94 percent year-on-year to NT$59.68 billion last year, while uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic caused revenue to fall by 23.13 percent to NT$7.37 billion in the first two months of this year.

ELECTRONICS

JMC eyes capital reduction

JMC Electronics Co (易華電子), which specializes in chip-on-film technology for LCD driver ICs, yesterday said that its board of directors had approved a plan to reduce its capital by NT$170 million, or 17 percent, to increase shareholder returns and adjust its capital structure. After the capital reduction, which is pending approval by shareholders and regulators, JMC’s paid-in capital would fall to NT$830 million, the company said in a Taiwan Stock Exchange filing. The company plans to return NT$1.7 per share to shareholders following the capital reduction, in addition to a proposed cash dividend of NT$2 per share. JMC shares yesterday closed 9.67 percent lower at NT$49.05 in Taipei trading. The shares have fallen 39.22 percent so far this year.

TECHNOLOGY

Broadcom update positive

Broadcom Inc last week scrapped its full-year financial forecast because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the US chipmaker’s comments about steady enterprise spending on data centers and 5G infrastructure should be positive for local technology companies, Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) said in a client note. Steady demand for data center equipment should benefit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), Parade Technologies Ltd (譜瑞科技), Aspeed Technology Inc (信驊科技) and Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), Yuanta said. Increased spending on 5G infrastructure would be positive for TSMC, King Yuan Electronics Co (京元電子), LandMark Optoelectronics Corp (聯亞光電) and Elite Advanced Laser Corp (聯鈞光電), it said. However, the coronavirus pandemic would continue to weigh on firms providing smartphone components to Broadcom, such as Win Semiconductors Corp (穩懋半導體), it added.

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title: Taiwan Business Quick Take


title: Goldman Sachs predicts US GDP to fall 5%

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‘SLOWDOWN CERTAIN’:
 Economists cut their full-year forecast to 0.4 percent, but warned ‘the uncertainty around all of these numbers is much greater than normal’

The US economy will contract sharply late this month and next month as consumers and businesses slash spending, with the short downturn likely be officially deemed a recession, Goldman Sachs Group Inc said.

The world’s largest economy will shrink 5 percent in the second quarter after zero GDP growth in the first three months of the year, the firm’s economists wrote in a note on Sunday.

They cut their full-year forecast to 0.4 percent growth from 1.2 percent on expectations for growth of 3 percent and 4 percent in the third and fourth quarters and strong gains early next year.

“The uncertainty around all of these numbers is much greater than normal,” the economists wrote.

Consumers and businesses will continue to cut travel, entertainment and restaurant spending, while supply chain disruptions and tightening in financial conditions will further dent growth, they said.

Goldman’s projections followed US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin saying earlier on Sunday that the COVID-19 pandemic probably would not tip the US into recession, and came before the US Federal Reserve cut rates to near zero.

“We’re clearly going to have a slowdown,” Mnuchin told an ABC interviewer, while adding that “later in the year, obviously the economic activity will pick up as we confront this virus.”

Peter Navarro, a top trade adviser to US President Donald Trump, separately told the Fox Business network: “I think the decisions we make over the next week or two will determine whether we have a significant downturn or not.”

The US National Bureau of Economic Research’s Business Cycle Dating Committee, a panel whose determinations of when US expansions begin and end are accepted as official, would probably classify such a sharp contraction as a recession even though it involves only one quarter of contraction, the economists said.

The group has previously said that just a few months of contraction can meet its definition if it is deep enough, the economists said.

Meanwhile, growth is forecast to nearly halt in the second quarter and recession odds have jumped, a Bloomberg survey of economists that was conducted from March 6 to Thursday showed.

Growth was seen as slumping to a 0.1 percent annualized pace in the April-to-June period, while the economy now faces a 45 percent chance of a recession over the next 12 months.

Additional reporting by AFP

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title: Business as usual in rugby league

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While the UK’s sporting weekend cupboard was left almost bare by the COVID-19 pandemic, it was business as usual in rugby league’s Super League as Castleford Tigers beat St Helens 28-14 in front of a sizeable crowd at The Jungle on Sunday.

Peter Mata’utia’s early try and two from Derrell Olpherts put the hosts in command, and although Tommy Makinson replied before halftime, Castleford built on their advantage in the second half with Jack Welsby and Jake Trueman going over.

“It’s been a mental week not knowing if we were going to be playing or not, but we just had to focus on ourselves and getting the two points against a great side,” Castleford’s Paul McShane told Sky Sports.

Specatators watch the Super League match between Castleford Tigers and St Helens at The Jungle in Castleford, England, on Sunday.
 Photo: Reuters

Castleford went joint top with the victory over the defending Super League champions, although when they play again is uncertain, as the UK’s other sports have largely been suspended due to coronavirus outbreak.

English Premier League and EFL soccer has been suspended until April 3 at the earliest, yet Super League elected to carry on, following the government’s decision not to outlaw mass gatherings.

It has inevitably raised eyebrows, although Rugby Football League (RFL) chief executive Ralph Rimmer said that unless the advice changes, the RFL would be going forward with the season.

“I won’t pre-empt any decision from government,” Rimmer told BBC Radio 5 Live. “We have managed to liaise with them regularly and they have been very direct with their guidance. We’ll be meeting the professionals early this week to talk about what the options may look like in the future, but until anything changes we’ll be going forward.”

Responding to the surprise that Super League was continuing when the soccer leagues had acted independently to suspend, he said the RFL were simply following government advice, pointing out that the Cheltenham horse racing festival went ahead last week.

“At the moment it’s everyone’s prerogative to choose what they want to do, but nevertheless the games are on,” Rimmer said.

Castleford coach Daryl Powell said suspending Super League would be damaging to the clubs.

“There’s no doubt about it, the main taking point this week has been coronavirus,” Powell said. “The way it’s already impacting on all our lives and the sporting landscape is incredible.”

“Financially, soccer can probably cop it, but I don’t think rugby league can, so there will be some serious thinking going on behind closed doors to see what needs to be done,” he said.

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title: Landis Taipei set to furlough staff

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The Landis Taipei (台北亞都麗緻飯店) is negotiating with its employees about a plan to introduce unpaid leave as its business suffers amid the COVID-19 pandemic, hotel management said in a statement yesterday.

The statement was the hotel’s response to a Chinese-language media report the previous day that said the Landis Hospitality Group (麗緻餐旅集團) on April 1 would introduce a three-month plan under which employees would take six days of unpaid leave per month.

It is the latest move by the group to offset declining guest numbers following the closure of the Landis Taichung (台中亞都麗緻飯店) on Monday last week, the report said.

Landis Taipei said in the statement that it is still discussing the plan with its employees and would reveal the details once an agreement is reached.

“It is necessary to have staff consent” before cutting working hours, the statement said, expressing the hope that employees would understand the difficult situation the company is in.

The provisional furlough policy would be rescinded if business recovers quicker than expected, the statement said.

With the closure of the Landis Taichung, the Landis Group has five local hotels and resorts: the Landis Taipei, the Tayih Landis Hotel Tainan (台南大億麗緻酒店), Pause Landis Resorts (璞石麗緻溫泉會館) in New Taipei City’s Wulai District (烏來), the Landis Resort Yangmingshan (陽明山中國麗緻大飯店) in Taipei and the Landis Inn Chuhu (竹湖暐順麗緻文旅) in Hsinchu City.

Landis Group business development division assistant general manager Gary Lo (羅明威) attributed the closure of Landis Taichung after 13 years to the economic slowdown, surging rental fees and operational costs, as well as the impact of the pandemic.

“We never made enough to cover our losses,” Lo said.

Landis Taipei shares fell 1.45 percent to close at NT$21.50 on Friday last week. There were no trades yesterday.

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title: Mask claims fly in face of science

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In June 1918, as it became evident that a deadly strain of influenza was spreading through military cantonments in the US, a group of the nation’s premier medical scientists visited Camp Grant to conduct an inspection.

Constructed just the year before, this huge army training center was populated by 57,000 mainly young recruits — “farm boys with straw colored hair and flush cheeks” as described by John Barry in The Great Influenza, his terrifying account of the Spanish Flu.

It was an endemic waiting to happen.

Though the camp pathologist Joe Capps had noted signs of “a different type of pneumonia” surfacing, the staff at the camp and the team of inspectors had yet to gauge the true extent of the danger.

Still, in response to this and other respiratory diseases, Capps introduced gauze masks to the infirmary.

Aside from some minor tweaks, there was nothing revolutionary about the masks themselves. They had been in use for more than 20 years at that point, making their debut with the discovery of viruses in the 1890s.

This came as germ theory finally displaced the belief that disease was spread by toxic air known as miasma, a view that had held sway in the West for two millennia.

Others had already conducted studies, but what was different about Capps’ experiment into the efficacy of masks was that they were worn by patients.

“So far as we can learn, the use of the face mask for patients had never been practiced. In a hospital where each patient is confined to a separate room, there is no reason for masking the patients. But in hospital wards where, even with cubicles, patients must mingle and expose one another to respiratory infections, the face masks on theoretical grounds promised protection,” wrote Capps in a paper for the Journal of American Medical Studies in August.

The experiments yielded such positive results, particularly in preventing cross-infections, that the masks became standard issue for patients and the staff treating them.

Yet, just weeks after the publication of the paper, influenza had torn through Camp Grant. The first 100 men to be diagnosed were all issued masks and isolated, but within days more than 4,000 men were ill.

By early October, more than 400 men had died. Devastated, the camp commandant shot himself. The masks had failed spectacularly. On a national level, in general population, this was even more evident.

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus in December last year, the “Western” aversion to and the Asian predilection for mask-wearing has been a recurring theme.

Articles in Taiwanese and international media have offered various cultural reasons for these differences, some of them — such as the claim by one medical news outlet that Europeans are happy to get ill because they can take unlimited sick leave — utterly barmy.

However, during the 1918 outbreak in the US, masks, Barry wrote, “would soon be seen everywhere and would become a symbol of the epidemic.”

It did not make a blind bit of difference — infection rates soared and bodies overflowed from morgues into the streets.

“The masks worn by millions were useless,” Barry concludes.

In San Francisco, the Red Cross issued 100,000 masks in late October, and they were credited as having helped the city largely avoid the virulent second wave of the epidemic.

This proved a fatal misjudgement, as the city succumbed to a third recrudescence.

That same month, the ineffectiveness of the masks was further exposed by the death of 33 police officers in Philadelphia who had been sent to dispose of the corpses that were piling up in homes around the city.

Once again, the masks “had no effect on the virus.”

Reflecting on what was one of the first major initiatives to implement widespread mask use, a 2008 paper in the American Journal of Infection Control concluded: “Because influenza is a droplet-borne infection, this policy was based on sound reasoning, and thus favorable consequences were expected. The actual failure of mask use to prevent the spread of disease was disappointing.”

Mask design has improved since the devastating pandemic of 1918, but there remains little in the way of solid evidence that surgical masks are of any value when used in general population.

On the back of the 1968 Hong Kong Flu, which claimed 1 million lives worldwide, research published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Surgery suggested that gauze masks had less than 30 percent efficiency at blocking particles of less than 5 micrometers in diameter.

Again, the average surgical mask these days is better than what was available 50 years ago and certainly effective enough to keep out COVID-19 droplets at close range.

There is currently debate over whether the virus remains suspended in the air through droplet nuclei and, if so, for how long.

Recent studies, including opportunistic data collated in Hong Kong during the SARS outbreak of 2002 to 2003, indicate that population-wide use of masks could have some impact on transmission rates of the disease, which is also spread via droplets, as is flu.

Still, the evidence remains flimsy at best, and the fact is, there is also almost zero support within medical and scientific circles for the use of masks in general population as a means of reducing transmission.

The Centers for Disease Control has made it clear that it regards masks as unnecessary for the public; Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁), an epidemiologist, has reiterated this; and Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an epidemiologist with Academia Sinica, “felt puzzled to see the panic buying of face masks when the country is still relatively safe from the virus.”

Ho, who made her name as the public face of science during the SARS outbreak, is surely using conciliatory language here.

She might be “puzzled” as to why her compatriots are completely ignoring professional advice, but she must know that fact-based arguments will do little to change the minds of most Taiwanese who, culturally predisposed to mask usage as they are, have been lining up in droves from the minute the virus reared its floral protuberances.

With the government having shrewdly implemented a rationing program, there is nothing particularly harmful about the public passion for masks, though potential downsides could include the engendering of a false sense of security.

However, more recently, the near-universal praise Taiwan’s government has received for its outstanding response to the virus has caused some citizens (and some media) to attribute the success in part to masks.

Articles and videos have appeared questioning why Europeans do not wear masks; posts on social media have implied that “foreigners” are now reaping what they have sown, and paying the price for foolishness and arrogance.

Some of this is understandable. Reports of racially motivated attacks in the West against Asians have been alarmingly frequent since the onset of the outbreak, and some of them were associated with mask-wearing.

The scorn and abuse for what is seen as a socially responsible practice in much of East Asia is being reciprocated in some quarters.

Still, among the responses on social media to the westward spread of the virus, suggestions that citizens of North America and Europe deserved to be infected were particularly unsavory.

There is no doubt Taiwan’s handling of COVID-19 has been exemplary and deserving of praise. Let us give credit where it is due: A government that followed sound scientific advice rather than Joe Public touting unsubstantiated received wisdom.

James Baron is a freelance writer and journalist based in Taipei.

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title: Phison posts 5.32 percent profit growth

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Phison Electronics Corp (群聯) yesterday posted 5.32 percent annual growth in net profit for last year after significant growth in higher-margin memory products for mobile phones.

Gross profit soared 62 percent annually to a record of NT$3.48 billion (US$115.16 million) last quarter, the NAND flash memory controller supplier said in a statement.

That brought last year’s gross profit to NT$11.15 billion, up 22 percent from NT$9.13 billion in 2018.

Net profit last year climbed to NT$4.55 billion, compared with NT$4.32 billion in 2018, the third-highest level in the company’s 20-year history. That translated into earnings per share of NT$23.05, up from NT$21.91 the prior year.

Revenue last year rose 10 percent to NT$44.69 billion after soaring 30 percent to NT$13.17 billion in the fourth quarter.

Phison Electronics’ flash memory developing arm Kingston Solutions Inc (KSI, 金士頓電子) is no longer a drag on its bottom line after the unit turned around last quarter.

It recognized a NT$345 million loss from the 33 percent-held unit in the first three quarters of last year before booking a NT$52.41 million profit from KSI last quarter, a Phison Electronics filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange showed.

The company’s board of directors has approved the distribution of a cash dividend of NT$13 per common share, same as last year and representing a payout ratio of 56.4 percent, the company said.

That implied a 5.18 percent dividend yield based on the company’s closing price of NT$251 yesterday.

Phison Electronics chairman Pua Khein-seng (潘健成) has said that recovery in the NAND flash memory industry would continue for the remainder of this year after a brief dip this quarter due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

NAND flash memory prices are expected to pick up further next quarter, driven by new product launches from the world’s major electronics vendors, Pua said.

To cope with the upswing, Phison Electronics is increasing NAND flash memorychip orders from suppliers in the US and South Korea, he said.

Phison Electronics in January said that it plans to spend NT$1.3 billion to build a new fab in Taiwan this year to scale up its research and development team, and increase materials for high-end NAND flash products.

Construction is to begin this month.

The company’s operating expenses rose 34 percent last year as it invested in advanced technology to cope with rising demand for 5G-compatible technology, industrial devices and servers.

It is to hold an investors’ teleconference on Friday to provide detailed financial figures and its business outlook.

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Norway would offer companies at least 100 billion kroner (US$9.7 billion) in funding in the form of guarantees for loans and bond issues to support the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Norwegian government said on Sunday.

“The government will do what’s needed and spend the necessary funds to secure the Norwegian economy and support Norwegian businesses, big and small,” Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg told a news conference.

The country on Thursday invoked emergency powers to close a wide range of public and private institutions, including schools and restaurants, in a bid to combat the spread of the coronavirus.

The business support package was divided into loan guarantees of 50 billion kroner to small and medium-sized companies seeking bank loans, and the same amount in the form of government guarantees to large firms issuing corporate bonds.

In addition, payments of payroll taxes will be postponed, the government said.

Further measures for industries that have been particularly hard hit will also be presented at a later time, Norwegian Minister of Finance Jan Tore Sanner said.

Norway’s King Harald said in a televised speech on Sunday that the circumstances were “unreal, strange, and scary for everyone.”

“We don’t feel at home in our daily lives, or the world around us. And still we are only at the start of something that we don’t fully know the consequences of,” Harald said.

The government on Friday announced that it would pay a greater part of the bill for companies seeking to make temporary layoffs, while the Norwegian central bank slashed interest rates and lined up emergency funds for banks.

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title: Norway announces loan guarantees to support companies


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A Reserve Bank of India-backed proposal to rescue embattled Yes Bank Ltd has been approved and withdrawal limits will be lifted, officials said, as India’s fourth-largest private lender posted a big quarterly loss.

Yes Bank was struggling with bad loans and on the brink of collapse when the central bank seized control of the lender on March 5 and imposed withdrawal limits for customers.

Eight banks — led by the country’s largest lender, the State Bank of India (SBI) — committed to investing in the plan, which has been approved by the Indian government, Yes Bank said in a regulatory filing on Saturday.

The withdrawal limits for customers would be lifted tomorrow, it said.

“We are an integral part of the financial system and we must support other banks that have gone into difficulty,” Deepak Parekh, chairman of the Housing Development Finance Corp Group, one of the lenders investing in Yes Bank, told the Times of India on Sunday.

“The difficulty may be due to any reason, but there are a large number of depositors, borrowers and employees. We are reasonably confident that the bank will be revived,” Parekh said.

SBI had announced on Thursday that it would invest 72.50 billion rupees (US$977 million) in the troubled lender.

The announcement came as Yes Bank on Saturday reported a net loss of 185.6 billion rupees in the three months to Dec. 31 last year, compared with a profit of 10.2 billion rupees in the previous corresponding period.

Deposits totaled 1.37 trillion rupees as of March 5 — when Indian authorities took control of the bank — down 17 percent from the start of the year, Yes Bank said in a statement on Saturday.

That followed a 26 percent year-on-year slide in the three months through December last year.

Yes Bank’s provisions climbed to 247.7 billion rupees in the quarter ended Dec. 31 from 13.36 billion rupees in the previous three-month period and only 5.5 billion rupees a year earlier, Yes Bank said.

Its gross bad-loan ratio as a share of total loans was 18.9 percent in the December quarter, up from 2.1 percent a year earlier.

The bank on Thursday is to be removed from several NIFTY indices, the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd said in a statement yesterday.

India’s financial system had been hit by liquidity concerns more than a year after the near-collapse of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd, one of the nation’s biggest “shadow banks” — finance houses responsible for significant consumer lending.

A resulting reluctance of banks to lend money has exacerbated the woes of Asia’s third-biggest economy, with growth remaining sluggish.

Additional reporting by Bloomberg

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title: India approves rescue proposal for Yes Bank


content_text:
More money, more jobs, and more for retirement.

Those are the kind of things negotiated in most union contracts, and the union that represents NFL players got them in the new deal that ties the NFL and its players together for the next decade.

But more work, too? Who would negotiate that?

That is what a lot of NFL players must be wondering after a vote to approve the new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) barely squeaked past members.

The vote released on Sunday revealed a deep schism among players when it came to the centerpiece of the agreement — a 17th regular-season game in exchange for owners throwing a few more financial crumbs their way.

There is no such schism among NFL owners.

They are popping champagne corks after getting players to sign off on a deal that guarantees their golden goose remains golden for at least another 10 years.

What is not to like about getting more regular-season games — and more playoff games (though owners can impose that unilaterally) — for the upcoming TV deals that would make their billion-dollar franchises even more valuable than before?

“We are pleased that the players have voted to ratify the proposed new CBA, which will provide substantial benefits to all current and retired players, increase jobs, ensure continued progress on player safety, and give our fans more and better football,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said.

Not so pleased are some of the NFL’s elite players, who already have big salaries and were not looking for more work. They will be risking their bodies at least one more Sunday a year when the league goes to an expanded scheduled as soon as next year.

“It seems like player safety has a price tag,” 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman said at the Super Bowl. “You know, player safety up to the point of, hey, 17 games makes us this much money. So they really don’t care how safe we are.”

Not safer than before, that is for sure. A 17th game not only increases the chance of injury to players, but adds wear and tear to bodies that struggle to make it through the season intact as it is.

Yes, players do get fewer practices in pads and one less exhibition game as part of the trade off. There are more jobs — and more money — for those who stay healthy and productive.

Retirees make out better, too, with larger pensions and more players included in the pension pool.

However, this was a deal that did not need to be made, at least right now. There is still another year left on the current deal and plenty of time to twist the arms of owners — even with the implicit warning from on top that this was the best they could do — and to make it for 10 years?

Did the players not learn anything from the current contract that began when some were still at school?

It means at least another decade without guaranteed deals for most players. Another decade with cheap rookie deals that for many will be the only contract they ever get.

“Can’t believe we agreed to that lol,” Indianapolis Colts tight end Eric Ebron tweeted. “We can only play this game for so long and y’all didn’t want everything we could get out of it? ... 2030 y’all do better.”

Players did not agree to it by much. The final vote was 1,019 to 959, while about 500 eligible players did not even bother to vote.

Hardly an overwhelming mandate, but for many players the promise of more money was too much to resist.

Owners knew what they were doing when they dangled just enough sweeteners in front of players, knowing many are more concerned with what they might make today than what would happen to them over the next 10 years.

Then again, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, maybe they figured that even if new contracts are not guaranteed, nothing else in life is, either.

“I think the coronavirus probably got into some peoples’ minds, definitely,” Denver Broncos cornerback Chris Harris Jr said. “I had already voted, but I wouldn’t have changed my mind. I can see, though, how it could have caused some guys to change from a ‘no’ to a ‘yes’ [for financial stability].”

The NFL is to soon begin negotiating new TV and digital deals, and more billions to add to league coffers. Players get a percentage of that, so they had an incentive to make a deal for the common good. The other incentive is that the average NFL career lasts only a few years, so they might as well grab everything they can right now.

The players did just that in a deal they rushed into making and the NFL owners win once again.

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title: NFL wins again with deal players did not have to do


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Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) on Wednesday took to Facebook to criticize the WHO for adopting two erroneous calculation methods that could have produced misleading information on the COVID-19 pandemic and caused panic.

First, the WHO only looks at the number of confirmed cases and fatalities, without taking into account the population of each nation, resulting in skewed risk assessments for contracting the virus, said Chen, an epidemiologist and public health expert.

Second, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus sowed panic by warning the international community that the fatality rate of COVID-19 is about 3.4 percent, higher than the WHO initially thought.

When the number of confirmed cases in a nation drops, but the number of deaths increases, it should be checked whether its screening method has changed, rather than jumping to the conclusion that the fatality rate has become higher than originally estimated, Chen said.

Tedros’ “reckless conclusion and false alarm” stem from his failure to ascertain whether nations’ screening methodologies have changed, he said.

“Not only has he fallen short to alarm people around the world, he has caused unnecessary panic. He is really good for nothing,” the vice president said.

As for the WHO declaring the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic, the move came too late, he said.

Known for his gentle demeanor, Chen’s frustration with Tedros and the WHO made headlines nationwide, but people quickly empathized with him given his medical background.

However, what Taiwanese and a growing segment of the international community fail to empathize with is the WHO’s behavior.

In Taiwan’s battle against COVID-19, one recurring phrase has set the nation apart from the rest of the world and made it an example for many: “pre-emptive action.”

The concept is applied every step of the way, from Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) in early January ordering stricter border control and an ad hoc intergovernmental meeting, an export ban on masks and mask rationing, to banning travelers from China and the strict enforcement of quarantine rules.

From the early stages of the outbreak, the WHO has proven that it is not foreign to the strategy of taking pre-emptive action, as shown by Tedros’ announcement of the official name for the new virus to prevent people from referring to it by names that could stigmatize China.

For months, the WHO seems to have perversely viewed the outbreak through a prism that romanticizes everything China does.

A case in point, WHO technical consultant Maria Van Kerkhove said she was “touched” by China’s actions, as “every person of the population knew what their role was in this outbreak” when asked about the WHO’s repeated remarks that the world could learn from China in fighting the outbreak.

People must not forget the litany of compliments that Tedros has paid to China, including his praise of its “transparency” in providing information on the outbreak, his calls for “gratitude and respect” for China’s efforts to prevent the virus from being exported, and his repeated assurances that the COVID-19 situation was under control in China.

Chen’s criticism of Tedros and the WHO was an understatement, judging by the level of corruption in the UN agency.

The WHO should ask itself whether it has lived up to its values to “engage with everyone honestly and in good faith and hold itself accountable for words and actions.” It should immediately undertake sweeping reforms, starting with the resignation of Tedros, who still has a chance to salvage the last bit of his integrity if he knows when to quit.

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title: EDITORIAL: WHO needs systemic reform

people: 蘇貞昌 陳建仁


content_text:
Japanese midfielder Keisuke Honda on Sunday scored on his debut for Brazilian club Botafogo in a 1-1 draw against Bangu played in an empty stadium because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Honda, 33, got a hero’s welcome from thousands of fans when he arrived in Brazil on Feb. 7, but played his first match in the eery quiet of the deserted Estadio Nilton Santos.

He was photographed training ahead of the Rio de Janeiro state championship tie with a mask on.

Botafogo’s Keisuke Honda, front right, scores against Bangu in their Campeonato Carioca match at the Estadio Nilton Santos in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Sunday.
 Photo: Reuters

It might be his last match for some time: the Brazilian Football Confederation suspended the season until further notice because of the pandemic, effective yesterday.

Wearing the No. 4, Honda scored a penalty in the 28th minute, but Bangu equalized in the 58th.

Botafogo coach Paulo Autuori substituted Honda four minutes later.

Honda, one of Japan’s best ever players, had been without a club since leaving Dutch side SBV Vitesse in December last year, less than two months after joining.

Since arriving in Brazil, he has tweeted about hitting Rio de Janeiro’s legendary beaches and studying Portuguese.

Botafogo are looking for a boost after finishing 15th in the league last season, barely avoiding relegation.

Formerly of AC Milan and CSKA Moscow, Honda scored 37 goals in 98 appearances for Japan, including four at FIFA World Cup finals.

He became the first Japan player to score in three World Cup finals in 2018.

His contract with Botafogo runs until the end of this year.

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title: Honda nets on Botafogo debut


content_text:
MIXED FORTUNES:
 Fellow Taiwanese Chou Tien-chen admitted that he had been below his best after losing the men’s singles final to world No. 7 Viktor Axelsen

Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying on Sunday clinched her third women’s singles title at the Yonex All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham.

The world No. 2 triumphed over top seed, world No. 1 and defending champion Chen Yufei of China 21-19, 21-15 in a final that lasted 44 minutes.

The win secured the 25-year-old Kaoshiung native her third title at the event, making her the first Taiwanese to claim the treble.

Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying returns to Chen Yufei of China in the Yonex All England Open women’s singles final in Birmingham, England, on Sunday.
 Photo: AFP

Tai won the tournament in 2017 and 2018, before losing to Chen in the final last year.

Tai fell to a 2-6 deficit before scoring four straight points to level the first game.

Known for her unpredictable and versatile play, Tai sent the shuttle flying around the court with disguised drops to keep Chen, who had been returning well, away from the net, as she narrowly won the first game 21-19.

The scores were again neck-and-neck in the second game as Chen held on, waiting for Tai to make mistakes, but after the score reached 10-10, Tai found another gear, winning 10 of the next 15 points and reaching match point at 20-15.

A return by Chen then fell wide, securing Tai her third All England Open title.

The victory improved Tai’s head-to-head record against Chen to 15-3.

The two last faced off in the final of the Perodua Malaysia Masters in January, where Tai suffered a straight-games defeat.

Tai said that she was very excited to reclaim the All England Open title and was familiar with Chen’s style because the two have played each other so many times.

“She [Chen] has always been a consistent player, whereas I tend to make relatively more errors. Playing against her gives me pressure, but luckily today I was able to control the rallies,” Tai said.

Tai also thanked the fans in English for their support, saying how happy she was to play in England.

Earlier in the men’s singles final, Taiwanese top seed Chou Tien-chen was defeated by Viktor Axelsen of Denmark.

The world No. 2 fell to second seed and world No. 7 Axelsen 21-13, 21-14 in a match that lasted 46 minutes.

Chou began too passively, allowing Axelson to gain points quickly early on.

The Dane capitalized on aggressive attacks by getting close to the net, gaining control and then releasing a series of smashes at the body.

Chou’s frustration built toward the end of the second game as the match turned into one-way traffic, with the Taiwanese unable to find answers to Axelson’s superb form.

“You know getting a good start is pretty important, especially in the final,” Axelson said.

Chou said that he had been below his best.

“I tried to put in a better performance, but I wasn’t able to control the rallies as well as Viktor was able to,” Chou said. “I didn’t play to my 100 percent, and I didn’t expect that, but that’s the way it is.”

Despite the loss, Chou was the first Taiwanese to reach the men’s singles final in the history of the tournament, while Axelson ended a 21-year wait for a Dane to claim the title since Peter Gade in 1999.

Additional reporting by AFP

title: Taiwan’s Tai claims All England title


content_text:
Insurance companies should avoid unnecessary overseas travel by their employees to reduce the possibility of imported cases of COVID-19, the Financial Supervisory Commission’s (FSC) Insurance Bureau said yesterday.

The bureau on Sunday urged local life insurance and property insurance companies to prohibit their staff from unnecessary travel abroad and required companies to report to the bureau any travel-related activities, Insurance Bureau Deputy Director-General Wang Li-hui (王麗惠) said by telephone.

Chairs or general managers of insurance companies are required to report to the bureau in advance before starting business trips, with details including itineraries, anti-virus measures and others on the trips, Wang said.

Companies should make sure that family members or others who live with a staff member who travels overseas knows that the employee would need to remain at home for 14 days to fulfill self-health management requirements after returning, she said.

“We would not fine insurance companies if they fail to comply with this guidance, as there is no law allowing a penalty, but we think that insurance companies would be happy to follow this guidance, as they would not want to jeopardize their operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Wang said.

Moreover, if insurance company personnel have people they live with who want to travel, they might find it difficult to persuade them to cancel the trip, but they should report the situation to their company and make suitable arrangements, possibly including 14 days of self-quarantine, she said.

The announcement came after the nation confirmed its 54th COVID-19 case, a man in his 30s who visited Thailand and Japan and reportedly works for a foreign financial firm.

Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽) since last month has asked its staff to avoid trips to countries with a Level 3 “warning” travel notice.

The company yesterday said that it “strongly suggested” staff avoid unnecessary travel, spokesman Lin Chao-ting (林昭廷) said by telephone.

“We cannot ban them from overseas travel, as their rights are protected by the Constitution,” Lin said. “However, company management would ask for their reason for traveling and the leave would not be approved if it were deemed to be not necessary.”

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title: Insurance firms advised over employees’ travel


content_text:
APPAREL

Nike to close stores

Nike Inc was to close all of its stores in the US and several other countries to curb the spread of COVID-19, CNBC reported on Sunday. Nike stores in Canada, western Europe, Australia and New Zealand would be closed from yesterday to Friday next week, CNBC said. However, the company was still keeping open its outlets in South Korea, Japan, most of China and in “many other countries,” based on daily assessments of the pandemic, CNBC said. Meanwhile, Under Armour Inc said in a statement that it would close all stores in North America from yesterday through Saturday next week.

AIRLINES

Air France-KLM to get aid

Dutch Minister of Finance Wobke Hoekstra on Sunday said that the Netherlands would do “everything it takes” to keep Air France-KLM and Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport operating. Hoekstra would not give any details about a possible bailout, but said that Air France-KLM was “vital for the Dutch economy,” and said he was in close contact with his French colleagues and the Air France management. On Friday, KLM, the Dutch subsidiary of Air France-KLM, said it would slash up to 2,000 jobs and ask for government support as it cuts working hours by one-third across its entire staff.

HOUSING

Singapore sales surge

Housing sales in Singapore last month jumped 57 percent to 975 units from 620 in January, Urban Redevelopment Authority data released yesterday showed. It is the highest February total since 2017, when 979 apartments were sold. Singaporeans view property as a safe asset, boosting the appeal of housing in a time of turmoil. Global equity markets have tanked this month as COVID-19 spreads around the globe. The city-state has not been as hard hit by the virus as other Asian nations. As of Sunday, it had reported 226 cases and no deaths.

TELECOMS

ZTE rejects probe report

ZTE Corp (中興) yesterday said that it had not received any notice from US authorities after NBC News reported on Friday that the Chinese telecoms company was the subject of a new bribery investigation. ZTE said its operations continue as normal. The NBC report said that the US Department of Justice was investigating whether ZTE paid foreign officials to gain advantages in its global operations. “The company would like to clarify that it has not received notices from the relevant government departments of the United States in this regard,” ZTE said in a notice filed on the Hong Kong and Shenzhen stock exchanges.

ENTERTAINMENT

Casinos to limit use

Australia’s two biggest casino companies said that they would shut off half their poker machines to force people to engage in “social distancing” and slow the spread of COVID-19, as concerns about their revenue sent shares tumbling. Melbourne-based Crown Resorts Ltd, which is 37 percent owned by James Packer, and Sydney rival Star Entertainment Group said that they would keep people using machines apart by switching off every second one and restrict the number of players at gambling tables. Crown said it would restrict the number of people in individual conference or restaurant spaces to 450, while Star said it would limit the number of people to 500.

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title: World Business Quick Take


title: EDITORIAL CARTOON

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content_text:
The Ministry of Education held a news conference to ask the public and private sectors to cooperate to provide online teaching and demonstrations.

The goal of the news conference was to explain that if classes or schools are suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ministry would launch an online system for teaching and make up for missed classes.

Ways to apply for free 4G telephone numbers and discount plans were also announced, so that students from disadvantaged families would have free, unrestricted mobile access to the Internet for 15 days.

On Wednesday, I talked to a manager of a school in China for the children of Taiwanese businesspeople based in Dongguan, Guangdong Province. Students there still have not gone back to school, but the school has launched an online teaching system whereby teachers record classes at the school and post them online.

The school has stopped classes, but not studies.

Taiwan should follow suit and the ministry should take advantage of favorable public sentiment to set up a concrete and feasible online study system that includes teacher-led instruction.

More schools are closing due to the pandemic. In the past, there was dengue fever, foot-and-mouth disease, and SARS, and now it is COVID-19.

It is to be expected that similar situations could occur in the future, so such a national online system is not only necessary, it is urgent.

Such a system must be tested. The ministry should order county and city education departments to instruct schools at all levels to test an online study system to prepare for the suspension of some classes or the whole school.

They should use the simulation process to detect problems to adjust and improve the system.

The drills could be held on Saturdays, because most school activities, such as sports events, have been canceled on Saturdays and could be replaced with online teaching drills.

Parents would also be home on Saturdays, so they would be able to assist.

Finally, any electronic devices and online accounts that students need should be purchased and distributed as soon as possible.

It will be too late to start looking for tablet computers and applying for accounts after classes stop.

To help students from disadvantaged families, the 15-day free, unrestricted Internet access should be waived and they should be given access for as long as classes are suspended.

Tsai Jr-keng is a retired elementary-school principal.

Translated by Perry Svensson

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title: Prepare now for online education


content_text:
Mowing the lawn, playing soccer with your dog, turning on the TV. Soccer players around Europe are struggling to fill the “big void” created by the COVID-19 shutdown and many are writing about the unfamiliar experience on social media.

Some have already come to the conclusion “there is nothing to do.”

Real Madrid players have been training at home, where most of them already had facilities and equipment.

Captain Sergio Ramos posted a video on Instagram showing him sprinting on a treadmill.

Marco Asensio, who suffered a knee injury last year, posted a video showing that he was continuing his recovery program in his garden.

However, even for players used to working out, there is a limit.

“I’m here, in my garden, there’s nothing to do,” Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema said in a video on social media where he appeared alongside his dog, earning him a comparison with Will Smith in the movie I Am Legend.

In Italy, Juventus midfielder Douglas Costa filmed himself practicing his dribbling in the back garden, with his dog struggling to fill the role of defender.

Alexis Sanchez, on loan at Inter, has two golden retrievers and a much bigger garden, but he comfortably outplayed them in a video he put up online.

He also posted photographs of himself topless, gathering chopped wood.

Jessica Melena, the wife of Ciro Immobile, posted a cookery video, showing the SS Lazio striker waving a spatula and mixing a cake while she coached him.

Immobile posted a video in which he juggled toys with his feet.

SSC Napoli’s Belgian forward Dries Mertens posted pictures of a work out with a bottle of red wine.

In France, Angers SCO defender Romain Thomas said that his daily routine involved jogging, gardening and watching reality TV, while he has also talked to his teammates.

“We said to each other: ‘Look, it’s a beautiful day, it’s time to mow.’ So I mowed the lawn in the garden, it gives me time to think about something else,” Thomas said.

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title: Soccer players attempt to fill ‘big void’


content_text:
Anxiety about COVID-19 is changing the habits of people in Taiwan, in their daily lives and their consumer behavior.

Shopping is increasingly being done online.

Elderly and retired people and housewives are reluctant to go out, so they just stay at home and watch television, but the television keeps repeating news about the global pandemic, and the more a person watches, the more anxious they feel.

Wondering whether they are experiencing the telltale symptoms of infection, or imagining that they are, they want to go and see a doctor, but at the same time they are afraid to visit a hospital.

They want to go out, but worry about visiting crowded places.

As time goes by, they start to suffer from depression or anxiety. As well as giving themselves a hard time, they might have a negative effect on other people.

Experts do not expect COVID-19 to disappear in a short time. People need to know how to respond, so here are a few ideas:

First, normal consumer behavior must go on, but people must pay attention to their personal health and safety.

For example, people should wash their hands after touching things that are used by everyone.

It is advisable to wear a mask on public transport and in closed spaces. It also does people good to get plenty of sunshine and walk around in open spaces.

Second, with the growth in online shopping, consumers should avoid being fooled by exaggerated and untruthful advertisements or falling into other traps.

People must beware of falling for rumors and disinformation, such as advertising claiming that quack remedies can boost immunity.

Third, if a person falls ill, they should still go and see a doctor, but it is best to first visit a regular and trusted local clinician rather than going straight to a hospital.

This is a good opportunity for people to get into the good habit of visiting a clinic for minor ailments and not going to a hospital unless they have a serious illness.

Fourth, the best source of accurate information about the pandemic is the Central Epidemic Command Center, with its daily news conferences, but there is no need to sit in front of the TV all day watching repeat broadcasts.

It would be better to watch a variety of programs about culture, art, sport and so on. It would also be better for TV channels not to keep showing repeats of COVID-19 news items.

Apart from essential virus-related information, they should show more uplifting programs that help viewers improve their quality of life.

Fifth, the government could do something to alleviate people’s anxiety about crowds.

Government departments have developed map applications that show where people can buy face masks and the stock available, so they should be able to provide similar real-time information about how crowded places such as markets, bulk suppliers, supermarkets, restaurants and temples are, to help consumers decide when and where to go shopping.

Sixth, religious organizations should think about setting up reassurance hotlines or using their channels to broadcast programs that help set people’s minds at ease.

Let us hope that government guidance and public cooperation will allow Taiwan to successfully guard against the novel coronavirus and stop it from spreading, and, with support from consumers, reduce the disease’s effect on the consumer market.

Lee Shen-yi is honorary chairman of the Consumers’ Foundation.

Translated by Julian Clegg

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title: Practical approach can reduce anxiety


content_text:
POOL

Chang wins in Las Vegas

Taiwanese veteran Chang Jung-lin on Saturday defeated James Aranas of the Philippines 9-5 in the final of the Diamond Las Vegas Open, a 10-ball pool tournament. Chang, ranked No. 5 in the world, took home the US$17,000 prize from the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Nevada. The victory marked his first international trophy of the season. The 34-year-old was world No. 1 in eight-ball pool in 2012 and runner-up in last year’s World Nine-ball Championship in Qatar. The Las Vegas Open is part of the CueSports International Expo, an international pool extravaganza, but due to concerns over COVID-19 the organizers on Sunday canceled this week’s Predator World 10-Ball Championship, as well as the WPA Players Championship that had been scheduled for April 7 to 11.

BASKETBALL

Gobert voices remorse

Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert, the first NBA player to test positive for COVID-19, on Sunday said that he is feeling better every day, but wishes he had taken it more seriously. The 27-year-old Frenchman updated his condition in a video on social media in which he urged people to take precautions not to spread the coronavirus. “It’s all about protecting yourself and the people around you,” Gobert said. “I wish I would’ve taken this thing more seriously and I hope everyone else is going to do so because we can do it together. Take care and stay safe.” Gobert tested positive for COVID-19 just before the scheduled tip-off between Utah and Oklahoma City on Wednesday last week and the game was postponed. Gobert showed how he did not take the coronavirus threat seriously on Monday last week at a news conference. As he departed, Gobert made a point of touching all reporters’ recorders and a microphone he used — unaware that he would test positive two days later. Utah teammate Donovan Mitchell tested positive on Thursday last week. In the video, Gobert urged people do such basics as wash their hands well and refrain from touching their face, and thanked those who have supported him since his positive test.

GOLF

Koepka to snub PGL

Brooks Koepka on Sunday said that he has no interest in the Premier Golf League (PGL), another setback to a league promising guaranteed money and a team concept that now is missing some of the sport’s biggest young stars. “I am out of the PGL. I’m going with the PGA Tour,” Koepka said. “I have a hard time believing golf should be about just 48 players.” Rory McIlroy, who replaced Koepka at world No. 1 last month, has also said that he is not interested in the new league. Koepka spoke about the majority of the PGA Tour who he fears would be left out if all the attention was heaped on top stars competing in a team format. “I get that the stars are what people come to see, but these guys who we see win, who have been grinding for 10 or 15 years, that’s what makes the cool stories,” Koepka said. “I’d have a hard time looking at guys and putting them out of a job.” Koepka failed to advance from PGA Tour qualifying in 2012. He played remote spots on the Challenge Tour, earned a European Tour card and eventually made it to the PGA Tour. “I don’t forget where I’ve come from,” Koepka said. “There are guys from that top 125 who could be the next star.”

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title: SPORTS BRIEFS


content_text:
An Australian TV journalist yesterday said he has COVID-19 and assumes he contracted it while meeting with actress-singer Rita Wilson in Sydney.

Wilson and her husband, Tom Hanks, have been isolated in an Australian hospital since they were both diagnosed with COVID-19 on Thursday.

Authorities last week said that several contacts Hanks and Wilson had in Australia were being traced, but no other results of those efforts have been made public.

Hanks had been working on a film in Australia and Wilson had concert performances in the country before they were diagnosed.

Nine Network entertainment editor Richard Wilkins said that he was tested because he met Wilson at the Sydney Opera House on March 7 and again at Nine’s Sydney studio on March 9. The result came back positive on Sunday.

“I’m surprisingly very well,” Wilkins told Nine by Facetime from his Sydney home, where he has self-isolated since Wilson’s diagnosis.

“You could’ve knocked me over with a feather last night when I got that call. It took me a couple of minutes to reel from the news that they gave me. But I feel fine. I feel 100 percent,” Wilkins added.

The 65-year-old journalist said he could only assume that he had been infected by Wilson.

“We’re assuming this is from Rita. It may not be. They’ve all said it could be anyone, anywhere, any time, such is the prevalence of this thing,” Wilkins said.

“I was having a chat to her and that’s probably my best guess as to what happened,” he added.

Wilkins was one of 37 new cases confirmed over 24 hours in New South Wales, bringing the state total to 171.

The increase was the largest for Australia’s most populous state in a day.

At least 67 cases arrived from overseas and 44 were transmitted locally, while the remainder could not be determined or were still under investigation, authorities said.

Australia has about 300 cases overall.

Wilkins’ son Christian Wilkins was tested because he spent the night of March 10 in his father’s Sydney home. The 25-year-old is competing in the Australian version of the reality TV show Dancing With the Stars, which is being broadcast without a studio audience because of the COVID-19 risk.

Two Nine hosts who interviewed Wilson in their Sydney studio on March 9, David Campbell and Belinda Russell, yesterday remained in isolation in their homes waiting on test results.

Hanks’ diagnosis prompted an outpouring of get-well wishes in Australia and Hollywood. During the couple’s isolation, Hanks has posted on social media thanking their caregivers and evoking his famous movie roles.

A recent post of a stuffed kangaroo and two slices of toast slathered in Australian favorite Vegemite was captioned “Thanks to the Helpers.”

The advice for children to look to “helpers” in scary times is credited to American children’s TV host Mr Rogers, whom Hanks portrayed in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.

Hanks had been in Queensland shooting an Elvis Presley biopic directed by Baz Luhrmann.

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title: Virus Outbreak: Reporter who met with Rita Wilson has virus


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Young climate activists shifting tactics online

PROTESTS AMID COVID-19:
 Japanese and South Koreans are moving campaigns from the streets, while one group in Seoul has turned to the courts, suing the government

Young climate activists in Asia are changing tactics, filing lawsuits and developing coordinated online protests, a shift that is accelerating as leaders urge people to avoid public gatherings because of the spread of the coronavirus.

In Japan, students earlier this month protested in the streets outside a bank that funds coal projects.

Now, Isao Sakai, one of the founding members of Fridays for Future Tokyo, said the group is working on ways to develop effective online campaigns.

“We are considering shifting our strategy to more online action” because of the virus, Sakai, 19, said by telephone yesterday.

However, “if things do not get worse, our intention is we want to do a strike,” he said.

This month, Swedish youth climate protest leader Greta Thunberg, who started the Friday strike student street protest movement, urged young activists to avoid crowds because of the virus.

In South Korea, high school senior Kim Yu-jin and 29 other young campaigners are suing the South Korean government in court to push for more aggressive emission-reduction targets.

Kim’s group canceled a plan for a protest in front of the city hall in Seoul on Friday, the day it submitted the complaint to the Constitutional Court, because of the virus.

The group instead is getting signatures online and asking people to retweet and share social-media posts. During the Friday briefing, the students were all wearing facial masks.

“We want drastic change,” said Kim in Seoul, whose case argues that South Korea’s pledge to reduce emissions almost a quarter by 2030 from 2017 levels is far below what is required to meet the Paris Agreement.

“We did what we could to make changes by meeting government officials,” she said. “It wasn’t enough to make the political leaders implement better policies.”

In Tokyo, Sakai’s group protested on March 6 outside the headquarters of Mizuho Financial Group, a large coal financier.

When he tried to deliver a video to Mizuho president Tatsufumi Sakai, he was turned away by security guards. Mizuho declined to comment.

The video showed Japanese students with homemade cardboard signs, many filmed at home, imploring the bank to halt its support for the fossil fuel.

“Some adults say our efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will hurt economic growth, but this way of thinking is very outdated,” Kim said. “If we actively respond to the changing climate, it can help us be more sustainable, which in turn will help boost the economy.”

Her message to deepen carbon cuts echoes a report from UN Environment Programme in November last year that said nations must halve their 2018 pollution levels by 2030 to meet the climate pact goal of limiting heating to 1.5?C.

South Korea has revised down its emission reduction targets twice since 2010.

Youth climate groups from India to New Zealand have sought to file lawsuits against governments.

“Young people and lawsuits — I know these words don’t go together,” Kim said.

However, “young people are the ones who will have to survive through the threat of climate change,” she said.

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content_text:
Italy’s nightmare offers a chilling preview of what is coming
There are a couple of lessons that the rest of the world should learn: Impose harsh rules quickly, and make sure your message is clear

In Rome, the first signs of change came from overhead. Shortly before cocktail hour on Monday last week, the thrum-thrum-thrum of a helicopter could be heard above the winding lanes of the 2,000-year-old historic center. The police were keeping an eye on the Trastevere neighborhood, where smoke billowed from the windows of a jail as inmates rioted, protesting cramped conditions that put them at risk of coronavirus infection.

About the same time, the stock market was opening in New York, ushering in a week that would become the worst rout in more than three decades. A few hours later, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte gathered journalists for a televised, prime-time press conference.

Rules that only 48 hours earlier had been imposed on Milan, Venice and other cities in the north — travel was restricted, schools were shut and even the opera was called off — would be extended nationwide.

The world’s eighth-biggest economy, with more than 60 million inhabitants, entered virtual quarantine.

It was like flicking a switch. In just days, a Western democracy went from Aperol Spritz to lockdown, as the outbreak spread from a northern crisis to a national one, now with more than 24,747 known infections and more than 1,809 deaths [as of yesterday], second only to China.

For those lucky enough not to be living through the Italian lockdown, pay attention: What is happening in Milan, Florence and Rome offers a likely preview of what is coming to New York, London or Paris in a week or two.

Consider this our letter to you from Italy, written from the seclusion of our couches and dining room tables, with a taste of what you should expect.

Whether it is shuttered shops, civil unrest, or the coronavirus itself, it will be difficult to avoid the trauma Italy has experienced in the past three weeks.

US President Donald Trump blamed the outbreak on a “foreign” virus when he announced restrictions on European travel to the US, but it is already there, in Seattle, New Rochelle and places yet undetected.

The Italian prime minister took to Twitter with the hashtag #iorestoacasa: “I stay at home.”

While hunkering down in your kitchen or bedroom makes epidemiological sense, it is terrible for bars, boutiques and pizzerias.

On Tuesday evening last week, as the streetlights flickered on, a flour-dusted pizzaiolo exited a restaurant near Piazza Navona while his boss taped signs on the window declaring the place shuttered.

“‘Stay at home,’ they said!” the pizza maker railed. “Well, now we’re going to stay at home. We’re closed.”

Similar scenes are playing out from Italy’s boot-top to toe. Northern hospitals are approaching the limits of their ability to care for those whose lungs are being ravaged by the disease.

The Rialto Bridge in Venice, normally teeming with selfie-stick-wielding tourists, is empty.

Dolomiti Superski, Europe’s biggest ski resort, has shut its lifts for the season despite pistes buried under more than 1.5m of snow.

In Naples, trucks that look like something out of Blade Runner trundle through the Piazza del Plebiscito dousing the cobblestones in disinfectant.

The unfolding financial crisis is deeply entwined with what is happening in shoe stores, gelato shops and hospital wards. Unlike the last financial contagion, which largely came from within the banking system, this is a shock to the entire economic corpus.

As business grinds to a halt, the country risks a domino effect of unpaid bills and loans that threaten to ripple across the globe.

“Basically, it’s a natural-disaster case,” Philipp Hildebrand, vice chairman at money manager BlackRock, told Bloomberg TV. “If they don’t have customers for a couple of weeks, it becomes very hard to service their debt, it becomes hard to pay the rent.”

Italy on Wednesday announced measures worth as much as 25 billion euros (US$27.97 billion) to cushion the blow of the pandemic.

Those include help for companies whose turnover has plunged, a moratorium on some mortgage payments and support for workers facing temporary layoffs and parents who must stay home to take care of kids when schools are closed.

On Thursday, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde unveiled her own stimulus package, but held off on cutting interest rates.

When Lagarde said: “We are not here to close spreads,” the Italian bond market plunged and yields shot up by the most ever.

By the end of the day, US stocks had registered their worst sell-off since 1987’s Black Monday.

Hildebrand’s comparison to a natural disaster is apt. This is not like a sovereign-debt crisis, a credit crunch, or even the invasion of Iraq. The only thing that comes close is the apprehension before a hurricane.

As anyone who has spent much time in Florida can attest, you know it is coming, but you do not know exactly when or where it will hit or how bad it will be.

So you lay in supplies and make sure your Netflix subscription is paid up, and when it hits you do not go outside because you might get killed by flying debris.

That is what Italy feels like.

In a televised address on Wednesday evening, Conte tightened things even further, ordering virtually all retailers other than grocery stores, pharmacies and gas stations to close until Wednesday next week.

Factories can operate and public transportation, banks and the postal service would continue, but restaurants, cafes and bars are shut.

With each passing day, Italy has become increasingly isolated from the outside world. Neighbors have clamped down at border crossings that for the past two decades have allowed unfettered passage under EU rules.

Austria and Slovenia are restricting entry to those who have tested negative for the virus, and Switzerland has sealed off nine minor crossings. On Thursday, Italians awoke to the news of Trump’s ban on most travel from Europe.

No matter what form the landfall takes — from financial to epidemiological — the Italian experience has made one thing clear: When those shocks happen, it will seem like they arrived overnight.

As recently as March 6, the tourists had largely cleared out of Rome, but for locals life went on, with gusto. Restaurants were so packed that waiters could barely squeeze past the diners. Shoppers jostled for warm pizza Bianca in bakeries.

A butcher on Campo de’Fiori was so crowded customers needed to take a number.

Then in the wee hours from March 7 to 8, Conte announced the northern restrictions, and on March 9 Italy became the first democratic country since World War II to impose a nationwide lockdown.

Three weeks ago it had seemed like a big deal when cases topped 1,000. Now that number seems quaint.

The outbreak that started in China in late January has infected more than 169,000 people in at least 114 countries and territories, shuttering cities, disrupting trade and supply chains, and shaking financial markets.

With Europe facing the prospect of a recession, Italy is at the center of it all. The country’s public debt stands at about 2.4 trillion euros, almost 135 percent of GDP.

Banks in other EU countries hold almost 450 billion euros in Italian sovereign debt. If the country goes under and those Italian holdings collapse in value, it would shake the foundations of the EU banking system.

European banks are worried the crisis could even turn into a global meltdown like 2008.

Their concern is that a virus-induced shutdown could spark a wave of defaults among the small and medium-sized enterprises that make up the economic backbone of countries such as Italy and Germany.

That would wipe out profits at the lenders and potentially eat up much of the capital that regulators require them to set aside for a rainy day.

The beleaguered Italian economy was already vulnerable to the economic impact of the virus, “a bit like an immuno-compromised patient,” said Rosamaria Bitetti, an economist at LUISS Guido Carli University in Rome.

And like that patient, a sneezing, sniffling Italy puts the rest of the world at risk.

“The impact could be systemic for all of Europe and beyond,” Bitetti said.

It is a peril that starts with people like Rossella Rocco. After eight years studying and working in Rome, in December last year the 29-year-old hairdresser moved back home to Corigliano-Rossano, a town of 77,000 in the southern region of Calabria.

With state funding offered to young entrepreneurs launching businesses in the south, she leased a shop on the central piazza that she outfitted with a pair of hair-washing sinks and three salon chairs.

Now, just a month before her planned opening, the pandemic has hit, with the town getting its first cases in the past few days. Even if customers show up, under the latest decree she will be barred from letting them in.

She compares the experience to awaiting a tidal wave.

“We’re bracing for impact: If people don’t leave the house there’s no business,” Rocco said. “I’m trying to stay positive, but this is devastating. Businesses like mine can’t survive without people.”

Italy offers key lessons for the rest of the world: Impose harsh rules, fast, and make sure your message is clear.

For weeks, Conte resisted demands from his government and opposition leaders for strict containment measures. Then he abruptly made his dramatic leap from locking down the north to shutting the entire country.

Media leaks of the first decision, to seal off the north, sparked confusion — even panic — prompting thousands to rush onto trains to escape, and leading southern regions to order quarantines for arrivals from the worst-hit areas.

Some economists say Italy’s early outbreak could prove that taking a short-term hit to business is worth the cost to stem the human and financial carnage.

“Italy is a precursor of what will happen in the US and in Europe because of the speed at which the virus spread,” said Nathalie Tocci, director of the International Affairs Institute in Rome. “Germany is on the same trend as Italy, but two weeks behind.”

In another preview of what the US might face, the extensive powers wielded by Italian regions — including health policy — led to delays in responding to the outbreak and arguments over limits on travel.

Most Europeans bristle at restrictions on the scale of those imposed in China.

“Italy’s weakness is the price to pay for an open society in a liberal democracy,” said Giovanni Orsina, head of the LUISS School of Government.

Beyond the financial risks, there are those that can be truly terrifying to anyone anywhere: violence and disease.

The turmoil in Trastevere was not unique. Prisoners in at least two dozen facilities across the country rioted, leaving 12 inmates dead, apparently from drug overdoses after raiding the jail pharmacies.

Yet so far, Italian officials insist there is little risk of civil unrest or of the government falling because of the emergency.

Of course, any prediction is hard to make given that infections have not yet peaked. Just a week ago, skiers were still booking Italian vacations and American university students were jetting around Europe.

The nightmare scenario is health facilities collapsing in northern Italy, where hospitals are expecting shortages of intensive-care beds, ventilation machines and respirators.

A rapid spread of the virus through the poorer south could expose the weak link in the national health system: An Italian Ministry of Health study said care in some southern regions is sub-standard.

This is where a now-famous graph called “flattening the curve” comes in. The chart circulating on social media, which illustrates the thinking behind Italy’s extraordinary measures, shows two scenarios for any country, region or city.

In one, cases spike all at once. In the second—represented by a flatter curve on a graph — the same number of infections spreads out over time due to “social distancing” such as school closures.

A horizontal line represents the number of cases the local healthcare system can handle at any given time. The flatter curve stays below the line, but the spike scenario goes above it — meaning there are not enough beds or respirators for patients who need them.

That is what Italy is trying to avoid.

For now, the hotspots in the north appear to be holding just below the line, in part by bringing in new equipment and, in recent days, moving intensive-care patients with non-corona ailments to hospitals farther away.

However, Italians are bracing for difficult decisions: On March 6, the national society of anesthesiology and intensive care published recommendations for dealing with “exceptional conditions of imbalance between needs and available resources” in admissions.

The considerations for potential triage include a patient’s age and chance of survival.

It is no wonder that some Italians, especially older ones, are gripped with fear.

On a recent morning at a Rome supermarket, a woman who appeared to be in her 70s blew up — more in terror than anger — at a man of a similar age standing close behind her, in violation of a new rule requiring at least 1 meter between people in public spaces.

Taxi drivers wearing both masks and scarves around their faces are balancing the risk of infection with making their car payments.

That fear has led to a sudden boom in grocery delivery services. The day after Conte announced the national lockdown, Rome supermarket entrances were jammed with bicycle couriers, mostly immigrants from Africa and South America, jostling for orders.

By then Milan had settled into a home-delivery routine that has left residents waiting more than a week for a slot to get groceries.

For Italians, it is just another sign that the entrenched rhythms of daily life had to give way — from cappuccino at the bar in the morning, to an aperitivo in the piazza after work, to a pizza out with friends at night.

The sacrifice is not fun, and borders on tragic: Weddings and funerals are banned, birthday parties postponed, educations derailed, businesses pushed to failure.

However, our friendly advice is when this virus gets to you, the sooner you accept the need to go into lockdown, the better.

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Former US vice president Joe Biden on Sunday committed to naming a woman as his running mate if he is named the Democratic presidential nominee, making a definitive assertion clamored for by some voters who have watched a historically diverse candidate field dwindle to two white men.

Biden made that assertion during Sunday night’s debate with US Senator Bernie Sanders in response to a video question from a voter about how he would handle women’s health issues.

Asked the same question, Sanders did not definitively commit, but said: “In all likelihood, I will.”

Biden has previously said he would seriously consider naming a woman or a person of color as his running mate.

Also Sunday night, he repeated a previous pledge to nominate a black woman to the US Supreme Court if given the chance to do so as president.

During last month’s debate in Charleston, South Carolina, ahead of that state’s primary — where a victory gave Biden momentum that propelled him into Super Tuesday wins just days later — Biden said he was “looking forward” to making that a reality.

Throughout the lengthy primary campaign, Biden has often eschewed running mate talk as presumptuous, although he has at times posited several names.

Asked by a voter at a campaign stop in Winterset, Iowa, in November, Biden described several prominent women he would consider.

“I could start naming people, but the press will think that’s who I picked,” Biden said, adding that it was premature.

Yet he went on to suggest Stacey Abrams, who ran for Georgia governor in 2018, calling her “the woman who should have been the governor of Georgia.”

Likewise, he suggested, without giving their names, that he would consider former US deputy attorney general Sally Yates and the two US senators from New Hampshire, Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen.

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title: Biden promises female running mate if nominated


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Philippines imposes home quarantine across Luzon

The Philippines yesterday imposed strict home quarantine measures and a halt on work and transport across its main island of Luzon, putting half of the population on lockdown in an aggressive bid to quell rising cases of COVID-19.

The government would with immediate effect compel people to remain in their homes and reliant on deliveries of food and medical supplies, while transport and work would be suspended except for essential services, presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said.

“The president’s ultimate goal is to save ourselves from ourselves,” Panelo said in a television interview.

A member of the Philippine army wearing a mask stands guard as commuters and motorists wait in line yesterday to pass through a checkpoint in Quezon City, Metro Manila.
 Photo: Bloomberg

The measures, if implemented fully, would be among the strictest in place in Asia, as the nation grapples to contain an outbreak that has seen confirmed cases rise to 140 — from only three cases 10 days ago — with 12 deaths.

“We are the soldiers, but we are also the enemy,” Panelo said in another interview. “We are enemies with ourselves. We are the carriers of the virus.”

The measures would be an expansion of a lockdown of Metropolitan Manila that came into effect on Sunday and prescribed stringent immigration curbs, bans on public gatherings, social distancing, the shutting of malls and a halt to non-essential movements in and out of the metropolis.

Luzon is home to more than half of the nation’s population of 107 million. The country saw 47 new confirmed cases on Saturday and 29 on Sunday.

Panelo gave contradictory statements on the extent to which work and travel would be suspended and whether supermarkets would be closed.

He said banks would be closed, while cash machines would remain available.

However, asked about the presidential spokesman’s remarks on closing banks, central bank Governor Benjamin Diokno said in a text message to Reuters that there “was no truth to the rumor” banks would be shut.

Duterte was expected to address the country later yesterday.

“We will not allow a rush to getting food and supplies,” Panelo said, even as Filipinos in the capital flocked to shops in a frenzied rush for food stocks.

“Food and essential needs will be delivered in homes, he said.

There were no fresh guidelines immediately available, but some issued over the weekend mentioned there could be scope for “enhanced community quarantine,” which would mean strict home quarantine in all households, transport suspended, food and essential health services regulated and a “heightened presence of uniformed personnel” to enforce procedures.

Panelo earlier told reporters it was “a matter of national survival.”

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content_text:
A : Did you have a good time on Siaoliouciou Island?

B : Yes, it was fantastic, although quite tiring because we had a really full itinerary.

A : What was the highlight of your trip?

B : Definitely swimming among sea turtles and tropical fish at Beauty Cave beach.

A : 你在小琉球玩得開心嗎？

B : 開心呀，真的是太棒了，雖然相當累人，因為我們行程排得很滿。

A : 你這趟旅行印象最深刻的是什麼？

B : 絕對是在美人洞沙灘跟海龜和熱帶魚一起游泳。

English 英文:

Chinese 中文:

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title: EVERYDAY ENGLISH


content_text:
‘VARIABLE STOCKING’:
 The president of a medical association called for the formation of a national disease control agency similar to the CDC to coordinate pandemic measures

Australia’s failure to stockpile a commonly used chemical reagent needed for COVID-19 testing is contributing to shortages amid the pandemic, doctors have said.

The Australian Medical Association has said that a common reagent that is critical in the testing of coronavirus is facing supply issues because of the huge demand on Australian laboratories due to COVID-19.

Chemical reagents are used to extract nucleic acids from swabs taken from potential coronavirus patients, a critical step in confirming the presence of the virus.

The reagent is not specific to coronavirus and is used in testing for a range of illnesses, including other types of influenza, the association said.

Australia has “very variable stocking” of the reagent across different states and territories, said Chris Moy, the association’s president in South Australia.

That has left some jurisdictions facing supply issues, but others well-prepared, he said.

South Australia was singled out for praise. It has spent the past decade “carefully” stockpiling a supply of the reagent, something Moy said was a complex and difficult task.

“You need this reagent to do the test,” Moy told reporters, speaking from a clinic where he is testing potential coronavirus patients.

“There’s probably two issues at the moment. Firstly, there has been very variable stocking by the state pathology services of this,” he said.

“The other reason why there is a bit of a burn-through ... there is still a proportion of the ‘worried well’ getting tested. The problem with that is the criteria for testing keeps changing,” he added.

Moy said the problem again showed the need for the establishment of a nationally coordinated disease control authority, similar to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“It just shows again that dealing with a pandemic, which is a state thing, can’t rely on jurisdictional inconsistencies, and also that dealing with a pandemic is a practical, not a theoretical, issue. That’s why the [association] has been calling for a center for disease control to coordinate responses,” Moy said.

Australia is hardly alone in facing strain on its supply of reagent.

Last week, US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn said that he was “aware of pressure in the supply system on the reagents” needed in coronavirus testing.

The agency was working 24/7 to address the problem and was seeking to supply laboratories with reagent alternatives, he said.

Grattan Institute health program director Stephen Duckett, a former Australian secretary of health, said that Australian officials had known for weeks that testing supply issues would arise.

“Were there estimates of demand?” he asked. “At the moment they are still basically saying we can’t meet demand. We can only test those who have very clear symptoms.”

Australian Department of Health Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly yesterday told a news conference that there was no issue with supply of the kits themselves.

He said the supply issues with “consumables” were rapidly emerging, but not surprising.

“There are some issues in relation to some of the consumables around the tests. That’s a global issue,” he said. “As you can imagine, there’s a lot of testing going on. All of those 160,000 people that we have definite diagnoses on have had at least one test.”

Moy said the Australian government’s decision to bring private laboratories into the testing regime would help alleviate the pressure, as would stricter and more consistent criteria for who can be tested.

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title: Virus Outbreak: Australia’s reagent supplies dwindling


title: Online HK store caters to detained protesters

content_text:
A “yellow economy” of businesses has sprung up in Hong Kong to support anti-government protesters, but online store Jimmy Jungle is zeroing in on young demonstrators stuck in detention.

Michael, 27, set up the business along with three friends, to ease pressure on detainees’ relatives and friends in finding them items of daily use, such as toiletries, packaged to comply with curbs set by authorities worried about security.

“It’s a matter of conscience ... they sacrificed a lot for Hong Kong,” said Michael, who did not want to use his full name for fear of losing suppliers angered at his support for protesters. “We can’t forget them.”

Online shop Jimmy Jungle cofounders Michael, left, and Hei pack supplies and snacks for anti-government protest detainees in Hong Kong on March 5.
 Photo: Reuters

The company was set up after the arrest of a friend during a siege at Hong Kong’s Polytechnic University in November last year, who has been in detention since.

“It has become like a full-time job for my friend’s family to find the snacks and daily necessities,” Michael said.

Rights groups say about 90 people are in custody, from among more than 7,500 arrested since anti-government protests escalated in June last year.

Hong Kong’s Correctional Services Department (CSD), which furnishes detainees with items such as toothpaste, toothbrushes and toilet paper, said it did not have a figure for those detained over the protests.

Friends and relatives of detainees criticize as too strict the limits fixed on items carried in during visits.

“I understand why they need to standardize the approved items, but some are hard to find in the market and not every family can afford to buy from the convenience store nearby,” said Kay, 31, who has a detained relative.

Guidelines specify sizes and brands of toiletries, and, even in some instances, permit only wrappers with Chinese lettering.

However, few items in shops meet all the specifications on soap, for example, and some sizes of toothpaste are only available as giveaways with much larger purchases.

The CSD said it reviewed the guidelines regularly and adjusted them as needed, adding that it had recently widened the choices of handwash and disinfecting wet tissues.

Jimmy Jungle’s founders at first used their own money for purchases sold at cost to inmates’ families and friends, but now it can provide items free, thanks to donations of nearly HK$280,000 (US$36,049) within a single week after its launch last month.

Nearly 30 detainees have received packages since. They are usually delivered to the offices of district councilors located near detention centers, making it easy for visitors to take them in to detainees.

Michael hopes for eventual amnesty for the demonstrators.

“I hope the protesters won’t need our service one day,” he said. “My friend always told us not to feel desperate, as those in custody depend on us to ignite their hopes.”

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