content_text:
義大利新冠肺炎疫情嚴重，民眾狂買各種消毒劑抗疫，卻引發多起幼兒誤食中毒事件。義媒報導，從疫情爆發以來，5歲以下幼兒中毒事件增加了135%。

義大利報紙「晚郵報」（Corriere della Sera）報導，米蘭尼瓜達醫院毒物中心表示，最近接到大量有關兒童中毒的諮詢案件，數量比過去50年來的平均案例增加了65%，5歲以下中毒案件更多，案例暴增135%。

尼瓜達醫院毒物中心主任達凡佐（Franca Davanzo）表示，有些人想重複使用口罩，直接把口罩浸泡在消毒劑裡，之後又戴上口罩，於是吸入大量化學藥劑中毒。

達凡佐指出，更多不幸案例是因為很多民眾為了抗疫狂買消毒劑，甚至上網看影片自製消毒藥水，結果沒有標示清楚，或放在幼兒可以拿到的地方，導致很多幼兒誤食消毒劑中毒。

達凡佐呼籲民眾不要隨便DIY消毒水，購買的消毒藥水要標註警示，放在幼兒無法觸及的地方，一旦發生幼兒中毒事件，要先致電毒物中心諮詢狀況是否急迫，不要立刻衝來急診室，以免反而在就醫過程感染新冠肺炎。

title: 義大利民眾防疫狂買消毒劑 幼兒誤食中毒案倍增


people: 陳柏惟 蘇貞昌 陳明通

title: Cross-strait exchanges questioned

content_text:
INTERPELLATION SESSION:
 The premier and Mainland Affairs Council minister were grilled yesterday at the legislature by Taiwan Statebuilding Party Legislator Chen Po-wei

Taiwan and China are two separate nations, and cross-strait exchanges can be beneficial and should not be completely cut off, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) told lawmakers yesterday amid questions about the role of the Mainland Affairs Council and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Taiwan Statebuilding Party Legislator Chen Po-wei (陳柏惟) said COVID-19 has put the safety of Taiwanese at risk and could tarnish the nation’s reputation, as foreigners often confuse Chinese with Taiwanese “since they all have black hair and yellow skin.”

He asked Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) what the council’s responsibilities were, adding that the council should not be promoting cross-strait exchanges, which China could use to assimilate Taiwanese.

Premier Su Tseng-chang, center, answers a question at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday, accompanied by Veterans Affairs Council Minister Feng Shih-kuan, left, and Vice Minister of National Defense Chang Che-ping.
 Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times

The council works to ensure that protocols for cross-strait exchanges are observed, the nation’s sovereignty is respected and the safety needs of Taiwanese are met, the minister said.

Chen Po-wei said that he supports Taiwanese doing business with Chinese, but is against “detrimental” exchanges, including Chinese “united front” tactics.

Chen Ming-tong said that the government should have faith in its people, who would be able to clearly see through exchanges which is the better government, Taipei or Beijing.

The whole world has seen that Taiwan has done a better job than Beijing in containing COVID-19, Chen Ming-tong said, adding that exchanges would allow the two sides of the Taiwan Strait to have more such competitions.

The premier said that with the world hailing the “Taiwan model” for containing COVID-19, foreigners discriminating against Taiwanese at this time are clearly unaware.

China is a large nation and market, from which Taiwanese have made profits, so as long as national security is ensured and the nation is not absorbed, he supports the two sides having mutually beneficial and respectful exchanges, Su said.

The government encourages people to compare China and Taiwan so that they can clearly see the face of communist rule, he said.

Chen Po-wei suggested the government implement “defensive democracy” by testing Chinese applying to visit Taiwan on their understanding of the Anti-infiltration Act (反滲透法) and the differences between the two nations’ political systems, just as the US government tests prospective immigrants.

Chen Ming-tong said he respected the idea, but the Legislative Yuan would need to pass laws to allow such a move.

Chen Po-wei suggested that Hong Kongers be allowed to serve as recruits in the Republic of China military, and they could boost the nation’s working-age population.

Hong Kong is a younger society than Taiwan, and its people hate the Chinese more than Taiwanese do, he said.

Su replied that the government cares deeply about the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, but recruiting Hong Kongers for the military would require prudence.

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A blood vessel imaging system installed at the National Laboratory Animal Center could help researchers develop a treatment for cardiovascular disease in humans, the center said yesterday.

The center, based at the National Biotechnology Research Park in Taipei’s Nangang District (南港), is one of the National Applied Research Laboratories’ (NARL) eight centers.

Center director Yu Chun-Keung (余俊強) and Hung Kuan-yu (洪冠予), the superintendent of National Taiwan University Hospital’s Hsinchu Branch, yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) at a ceremony in Taipei, with NARL president Wang Yeong-her (王永和) serving as a witness.

A two-way angiography system is pictured in an undated handout photograph taken at the National Laboratory Animal Center in Taipei.
 Photo courtesy of the National Laboratory Animal Center

Cooperation between the two institutions would speed up the clinical application of innovative techniques developed by the hospital, while NARL offers other research resources related to semiconductor, information and communications technologies, Wang said.

Demand for oncological, cardiovascular and neurological testing for animals has been increasing, so the center last year spent NT$30 million (US$989,576) to install a biplane angiography system in its laboratory at the Hsinchu Biomedical Science Park, center associate research fellow Su Yu-chia (蘇裕家) said.

The system can provide 3D X-ray images of animals in real time, which enables veterinarians to see the structures of animal organs while performing surgery and increases the success rate of the surgeries, he said.

Techniques such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging also produce 3D images, but they do not allow surgeons to take images during surgery, Su said.

The MOU would allow physicians at the hospital who want to develop new treatments for cardiovascular disease in humans to use the center’s imaging system to first try the treatments on laboratory animals, he said.

The institutions would jointly develop innovative medical techniques, such as navigating inside bronchial tubes, treating various heart arrhythmias and diagnosing intracerebral hemorrhages, he said.

They would share data from certain experiments that employed the imaging system, Su said, adding that the biplane angiography system could be rented by researchers at other institutions.

The center, whose headquarters is in Taipei, has a preclinical testing lab at the Hsinchu Biomedical Science Park, as well as a preclinical animal care and surgery facility at the Southern Taiwan Science Park (南部科學工業園區) in Tainan.

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title: Animal imaging system could help humans

taiwan-subdivisions: 南港 永和


content_text:
OFFICIALS UNDER PRESSURE:
 Chen Shih-chung urged those eligible for home isolation and quarantine subsidies not to rush to apply, saying that they have two years to do so

The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday announced 20 new imported cases of COVID-19 and one local case, bringing the total in Taiwan to 216, with one of the new cases being an American who was transiting in Taiwan, but felt ill at the airport and was hospitalized.

Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who is also head of the center, said the new cases were eight people tested at airports upon their return to the nation, nine people who were undergoing quarantine at home, one person who was under home isolation, and two people who tested positive after seeking medical treatment.

The most recent case is a French national who is studying at National Tsing Hua University, the CECC said in an update at 7:20pm yesterday.

Taxi drivers in protective outfits stand ready in Pingtung County yesterday. The county government has launched a taxi delivery service for people who are required to undergo quarantine.
 Photo courtesy of the Pingtung County Government via CNA

Most of the cases were detected by the center’s airport screening and home quarantine monitoring mechanisms, while the two people who sought treatment were a married couple who had returned from the US on Wednesday last week before the center implemented a home quarantine order on all travelers entering Taiwan the next day, Chen said.

“One of the imported cases is a five-year-old girl, who traveled with her mother on a company visit to Turkey. She was detected with a fever at the airport upon their return,” he said.

Another imported case was the American who was making a transit in Taiwan on Friday last week. He felt unwell during his flight to Taiwan and officials determined that he was not in a fit condition to take the connecting flight, Chen said.

Ministry of Health and Welfare Department of Social Assistance and Social Work Director-General Yang Chin-ching holds up a document related to quarantine subsidies at the Central Epidemic Command Center daily news conference in Taipei yesterday.

Photo courtesy of the Central Epidemic Command Center

“As he could have been an infection risk to passengers on the flight, we asked him to stay and he was admitted to a negative pressure isolation ward,” Chen said. “The test results came back positive, so he has remained in hospital for treatment.”

The imported cases had visited Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, the UK and the US, returning to Taiwan between March 9 and Monday, the center said.

After Chinese authorities announced that they are lifting the lockdown in Hubei Province and its capital, Wuhan, where COVID-19 originated, on April 8, Chen said the center would discuss with the Mainland Affairs Council whether the special notation on Taiwanese who had visited Hubei Province in immigration services data should be removed.

He said the notation was not a punishment, but so that the government could be especially cautious, as there had been a greater risk of them bringing the virus to Taiwan.

When the lockdown is lifted, Taiwanese in Hubei Province would be treated the same — a mandatory 14-day home quarantine — as Taiwanese returning from other nations, he added.

After applications for home isolation and quarantine compensation of NT$1,000 (US$32.99) per day began on Monday, Chen urged those eligible not to rush to apply for it now, as the application period lasts two years.

“The number of people under home quarantine has significantly increased, so local governments are really busy,” he said. “We hope those eligible can show some understanding for busy government officials and apply for the compensation at a later date.”

Ministry of Health and Welfare Department of Social Assistance and Social Work Director-General Yang Chin-ching (楊錦青) said that people who are eligible for the compensation are those who have been placed in mandatory home isolation or quarantine, those in quarantine centers, and the caregivers of those under home isolation or quarantine who cannot take care of themselves.

They can only apply for compensation if they have not breached their quarantine order and have not received a salary or other compensation during the quarantine period, she said, adding that they can apply in person, by mail or online.

“We are encouraging people to apply online,” she said, adding that more than 80,000 people had been placed under home isolation or quarantine as of noon yesterday and 3,032 had already submitted an application.

title: Virus Outbreak: CECC reports 21 new coronavirus cases


content_text:
FAILING THOSE WITH DISABILITIES:
 A report said that despite new assessment systems being introduced in 2012, people in need do not always meet requirements

The Ministry of Health and Welfare must do more to safeguard the rights of people with disabilities, the Control Yuan said on Monday.

The systems used to assess disabilities and the need for welfare services remain too narrowly focused, concentrating primarily on injuries, and welfare-related services are not conducted well, Control Yuan members said in a report.

New assessment systems were introduced in 2012, but the more conventional approaches remain in use, said Control Yuan members Wang Yu-ling (王幼玲) and Yang Fang-wan (楊芳婉), who conducted the investigation.

The original assessment for disabilities used a system with 16 categories of injuries and diseases, but the categories sometimes contradicted one another, while not all types of disabilities were included, Wang said.

The nation later adopted the WHO’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, which has eight main health and health-related domains, and a list of “activities and participation,” and “environmental factors,” for more accurate assessment.

However, adoption of the new systems appears to have been just a formality, as people with disabilities who have true welfare needs can fail to meet requirements stipulated in the regulations, Wang said.

There is a large gap between the initial intent to protect the human rights of people with disabilities when the systems were introduced, and the reality of their enforcement today, she said.

For example, people who have only one functioning ear or eye are not considered to have a disability and therefore cannot access relevant services, she said.

When using the new system, it is important to include comprehensive factors, such as individual experiences, needs, activities and participation, and social environments, Wang said.

The ministry needs to adjust its practices so that the human rights protection model stated in the UN’s Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities can be truly met, she said.

During their investigation, she and Yang reviewed documents from the ministry, consulted experts and made site visits to five cities and counties, Wang added.

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title: Control Yuan slams disabled care


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Taiwan warned WHO, China on virus last year

TWEET CONFIRMED:
 The US’ Morgan Ortagus backed up Taiwan, saying China only admitted that human-to-human transmission was possible as late as Jan. 20

Taiwan warned the WHO and China about possible human-to-human transmission of the new coronavirus at the end of last year, but the global health body did not make it public, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.

Department of International Organizations Director-General Bob Chen (陳龍錦) made the remark at a news briefing in Taipei, when asked about statements made by US Department of State spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus.

“Dec. 31— that’s the same day Taiwan first tried to warn WHO of human-human transmission. Chinese authorities meanwhile silenced doctors and refused to admit human-human transmission until Jan. 20, with catastrophic consequences,” Ortagus wrote on Twitter yesterday.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs Department of International Organizations Director-General Bob Chen speaks at a news conference at the ministry in Taipei yesterday.

Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei Times

Her tweet was in response to a post by Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying (華春瑩), who wrote that the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission had issued a notice about the virus on Dec. 31 last year.

The commission’s notice reported 27 cases, including seven severe ones, in Wuhan, but said that no obvious transmission among people had been observed.

The Centers for Disease Control on Dec. 31 last year did ask China and the WHO’s International Health Regulations contact for information about the abnormal outbreak of pneumonia in Wuhan, while the ministry’s representative office in Geneva, Switzerland, also contacted the WHO secretariat, Chen said.

On the same day, the centers started implementing onboard inspections on direct flights from Wuhan landing in Taiwan, he said.

The WHO later replied that it received the message and would transfer it to other experts, but did not make it public, he said.

There are e-mail records of the communication between the centers and the WHO, he added.

Taiwan’s disease prevention strategy was predicated on the concept that the virus could be transmitted among people, ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said.

The nation thanks the US and other like-minded nations for their support, and would work with the global community to contain the virus, she said.

Meanwhile, the WHO secretariat is still evaluating whether to convene the 73rd session of the World Health Assembly from May 17 to 21, turn it into a virtual meeting or postpone it until autumn, Chen said.

Although it is almost impossible for WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to invite Taiwan to join the assembly as an observer, the ministry would continue to push for Taiwan’s participation in the meeting, he said.

In other developments, British Secretary of Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Dominic Raab has advised all Britons who are usually based in the UK to return home soon, given the rapidly changing situation regarding travel restrictions and flights, the British Office Taipei said in a statement.

The advice does not apply to Britons who are residents in Taiwan.


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Virus Outbreak: Olympics delayed, WHO says US may be next epicenter

The Tokyo Olympics are to be delayed by a year in the first postponement since the modern Games began in the 19th century, becoming the biggest global event to be disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he and International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach agreed in a telephone call last night to delay the Games, which were scheduled to begin in July.

“The Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics will not be canceled,” Abe told reporters in Tokyo after the call, adding that they would be held by the summer of next year.

The coronavirus pandemic has made it all but impossible for aspiring Olympians to train and, in many cases, qualify for a July event.

Abe said that he received 100 percent support from Bach to delay the international sports event.

They agreed to work closely to hold the Games in complete form, symbolizing humanity’s victory over the coronavirus, he said.

Meanwhile, WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris said in Geneva that there had been a “very large acceleration” in coronavirus infections in the US, which had the potential of becoming the new epicenter.

Over the previous 24 hours, 85 percent of new cases were from Europe and the US, she told reporters, adding that 40 percent were from the US.

Asked whether the US could become the new epicenter, Harris said: “We are now seeing a very large acceleration in cases in the US So it does have that potential. We cannot say that is the case yet but it does have that potential.”

China’s Hubei Province, the original epicenter of the outbreak, is to lift travel curbs on people leaving the area, but other regions are to tighten controls as new cases doubled on Monday from Sunday to 78 due to imported infections.

The provincial capital, Wuhan, which has been in total lockdown since Jan. 23, would see its travel restrictions lifted on April 8.

On the economic side, business activity this month collapsed from Australia and Japan to western Europe at a record pace, with data for the US later yesterday expected to be just as dire.

“The coronavirus outbreak represents a major external shock to the macro outlook, akin to a large-scale natural disaster,” analysts at the Blackrock Investment Institute said.

Confirmed coronavirus cases exceeded 377,000 across 194 countries and territories as of early yesterday, a Reuters tally showed, with more than 16,500 deaths linked to the virus.

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content_text:
Large-scale military exercises were held nationwide yesterday, with eight F-16 jets from Hualien Air Base conducting simulated long-range intercept missions over Taiwan.

The drill was primarily held to test the military’s combat readiness against an all-out Chinese aerial invasion, the Ministry of National Defense said.

The ministry on Monday said air exercises were aimed at sending a message to Beijing that Taiwan would do whatever it takes to protect its sovereignty and national security.

A handout from the Ministry of National Defense shows air force personnel checking a F-16 jet during a drill at Hualien Air Force Base yesterday.
 Photo: AFP / Ministry of National Defense

Units from all branches of the military took part in the exercises, which started at 5:30am with the F-16s scrambled to respond to a simulated attack by China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), the ministry said.

The base conducted emergency landing drills at its backup runway as part of a scenario in which its main runway was damaged, the ministry said.

This drills, conducted without live ammunition, also tested the military’s ability to handle a joint air defense operation and make improvements based on the results, it said.

The drill came in the wake of PLAAF warplanes approaching Taiwan’s airspace at night for the first time on Monday last week, prompting the air force to scramble its fighters to intercept and monitor their movements.

PLAAF planes also briefly crossed the median line along the Taiwan Strait and entered Taiwan’s airspace on Feb. 10 before retreating to the western side of the line after Taiwanese aircraft warned them away by radio.

Chinese aircraft were spotted near Taiwan’s southern coast as they flew toward Western Pacific on Feb. 9 and again on Feb. 28.

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title: Military drill tests readiness against PLAAF attack


content_text:
By Wang Chun-chi and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer

The Aquaculture Breeding Institute Hualien in Hualien County’s Shoufeng Township (壽豐) has put a taxidermied black-faced spoonbill on display to provide a close-up view of the endangered species.

Staff are on hand to talk to visitors about the black-faced spoonbill and answer questions, the institute said, adding that it hoped to instill a conservationist mindset in the public.

The Chinese name for the black-faced spoonbill — heise pi lu (black-faced pipa heron, 黑面琵鷺) — comes from its beak, which resembles the Chinese stringed instrument, the institute said.

A stuffed black-faced spoonbill is pictured in an undated photograph at the Aquaculture Breeding Institute Hualien in Shoufeng Township.
 Photo courtesy of the Hualien County Government

Black-faced spoonbills spend their summers on the Korean Peninsula and northeastern China, and their winters in the south of Taiwan, where they can usually be seen near coastal marshes.

They feed mostly on smaller fish and shellfish, for which they forage in shallow water, the institute said.

About 2,000 of the birds spent the winter in Taiwan last year, it said, citing Council of Agriculture data.

“Although Hualien is not on the birds’ migratory path, there are still a few of them that gather in the county’s marshes every year looking for food. They attract bird lovers, who come to photograph them,” the institute said.

A total of 24 black-faced spoonbills are believed to have visited Hualien in May last year during the migratory season, the Hualien County Bureau of Agriculture said.

Two were injured when they landed in a marsh, and despite conservationists’ efforts to save them, they died two days later.

The bureau said it decided to have the bodies preserved by a taxidermist so they could be used for teaching purposes.

While the institute’s primary tasks are to help conserve fish species found in eastern Taiwan, research aquacultural techniques and breed black soldier flies as a source of protein for aquaculture, it is also tasked with educating the public on conservation, the county government said.

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title: Stuffed black-faced spoonbill on display in Hualien


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: TRA investigating worker who took paid leave for trip

The Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) yesterday said that it is launching an administrative investigation into an employee who allegedly made up a false excuse for paid leave to travel to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, amid Taiwan’s efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

The worker traveled to Dubai from March 1 to March 6 and sought medical attention on Saturday last week, the agency said.

The worker twice tested negative for the novel coronavirus and was sent home for self-health management, it said.

The worker is in charge of inspecting and maintaining railway tracks at night, the agency said, adding that civil servants are not obligated to report overseas travel plans in advance, except for trips to China.

The trip to Dubai was before the Central Epidemic Command Center issued a level 3 “warning” travel advisory for the city, the agency said.

However, local media reported that the worker had applied for paid leave to look after his father and checked “domestic travel” on the application, but traveled to Dubai instead.

The agency said that it has asked the worker to remain at home and that it is investigating whether he intentionally hid his overseas trip or checked the wrong option on the application.

The worker would be given a chance to explain himself, the agency said, adding that its disciplinary committee would consider the results of the investigation before determining whether punishment is merited.

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content_text:
The US said it would cut assistance to Afghanistan by US$1 billion this year and threatened more cuts could come as a breakdown in talks over forming a unity government threatened to derail a US-engineered peace deal.

Hours after departing Kabul on Monday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement saying that the US “deeply regrets” the failure of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and former Afghan chief executive Abdullah Abdullah to form a unity government.

He said that the US is imposing the US$1 billion cut in assistance because of the breakdown, which dates from disputed national elections late last year.

“Their failure has harmed US-Afghan relations and, sadly, dishonors those Afghan, Americans and coalition partners who have sacrificed their lives and treasure in the struggle to build a new future for this country,” Pompeo said, adding that Washington could cut aid by another US$1 billion in 2021.

The US has earmarked US$4.35 billion in funding for this year, a Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction report released on Jan. 30 said.

The inability of Afghan leaders to broker an agreement imperils a peace deal reached between the US and the Taliban last month to bring an end to what has become the US’ longest war. The deal reached in Doha was expected to lead to talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban starting on about March 10, a deadline that has already passed.

In a televised address to the nation yesterday, Ghani said that the government would ensure the US actions would not affect key sectors.

“The US has not yet cut the aid, but they made it conditional and we will make efforts to convince them through dialogue and negotiations” to not withdraw that support, Ghani said.

Even with Ghani and Abdullah both claiming victory in last year’s election, the peace deal called for a team of Afghan representatives that was expected to include more than just government officials.

That opened the door to Ghani and Abdullah being represented in talks with the Taliban, but the politics of achieving that have, so far, proved elusive.

“They still can’t see their way towards putting together the team, an inclusive team,” Pompeo told reporters on his plane en route back to the US. “That’s why you see in our statement that we are disappointed that they’ve not been able to do that.”

However, he suggested that the US could revisit its decision to cut aid.

“We are hopeful, frankly, that they will get their act together and we won’t have to do it,” he said.

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title: US to slash Afghan aid due to unity government failure


title: Shrimp researcher first Taiwanese to win OIE award

content_text:
Retired professor Luo Chu-fang (羅竹芳) has become the first Taiwanese to win a World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) honorary award, National Cheng Kung University said on Sunday.

The OIE confers annual awards for outstanding contributions to the control of animal disease and/or veterinary public health.

Luo was honored for her research into shrimp diseases, which led to her lab becoming famous for studying new shrimp diseases and the development of diagnostic tools to detect viral diseases in shrimp, the school said in a statement.

Retired National Cheng Kung University professor Luo Chu-fang, left, is pictured in an undated photograph.
 Photo courtesy of National Cheng Kung University

Luo taught at National Taiwan University, where she conducted the bulk of her research, before transferring to Cheng Kung in 2013, where she taught until her retirement last month.

Despite her retirement, Luo’s enthusiasm for research is unabated, and she is working on the nation’s first standardized shrimp breeding area in Hualien County, the statement said.

Luo began studying crustaceans in 1994 after witnessing the effects of the white spot syndrome virus on shrimp and the aquaculture industry.

Her research at the time on the pathogenic mechanisms of white spot disease, which is caused by a virus, was very important, a person in the shrimp industry said.

Scientists had thought that the disease was caused by a baculovirus, but Luo used DNA sequencing and viral pathogen assembly mechanisms to determine that it was caused by a new virus.

Thanks to that research, Luo’s lab was designated a reference lab by the OIE.

Having published several papers on shrimp breeding while at NTU, after switching schools, she used the results to help aquaculture farmers develop their businesses, Luo said.

While at Cheng Kung, Luo studied the breeding of specific pathogen-free shrimp and cultured shrimp resistant to viral diseases, set up a research and development center for shrimp aquaculture, and built a high-tech shrimp farm to promote a new form of shrimp farming management.

In 2013, Luo collaborated with researchers in Thailand to develop diagnostic kits for the detection of viral diseases in shrimp, which have tremendously benefited the marine biotechnology industry and shrimp aquaculture, Cheng Kung said in the statement.

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content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Cambodia accused of using crisis to arrest opposition

The Cambodian government has used the coronavirus outbreak to lock up opposition activists and others expressing concern about the virus and the government’s response, New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said yesterday.

Seventeen people have been arrested since late January for sharing information about the coronavirus in Cambodia, including four members or supporters of the dissolved opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, HRW said.

They were charged with penal code violations including incitement, conspiracy, and spreading false information, the group said.

A Cambodian Children’s Fund employee sprays disinfectant in a community in Phnom Penh yesterday.
 Photo: EPA-EFE

The arrests included a 14-year-old girl who expressed fears on social media about rumors of coronavirus cases at her school and in her province, it said.

Twelve were released from detention after signing pledges not to spread “fake news” and to apologize, the group said.

“The Cambodian government is misusing the COVID-19 outbreak to lock up opposition activists and others expressing concern about the virus and the government’s response,” HRW deputy Asia director Phil Robertson said.

“It’s truly frightening that during a national crisis, the Cambodian government seems more interested in silencing online critics than undertaking a massive COVID-19 public information campaign,” Robertson said.

Cambodia reported three new coronavirus cases on Monday, taking its total to 87, the Cambodian Ministry of Health said.

Government spokesman Phay Siphan acknowledged some arrests, but dismissed the group’s allegations, saying such measures had been taken elsewhere to fight false postings about the coronavirus.

The postings that led to the arrests were “disturbing and dangerous to people, and have made people believe panic that affects national security,” he said.

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content_text:
STEPPING UP:
 The firm has also asked employees to work in split shifts from this week and to halt all but essential overseas business travel from next month

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has implemented a remote work policy for employees not on production lines in an attempt to curb the spread of COVID-19, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said yesterday.

This is the first time in the Hsinchu-based company’s history that it has launched a large-scale remote work policy, joining global technology companies, such as Apple Inc and Google, that encourage employees to work from home.

The chipmaker has also asked employees to work in split shifts from this week, it said.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s logo is displayed at the company’s annual general meeting in Hsinchu on June 5 last year.
 Photo: EPA-EFE

As the number of virus infections continues to climb worldwide, TSMC has urged employees to halt unnecessary overseas business travel by April 12, it added.

The company’s latest disease prevention measures came after a TSMC employee in Taiwan tested positive for COVID-19 last week.

TSMC did not disclose how many employees have made arrangements to telecommute.

The policy is not mandatory, only encouraged.

TSMC has more than 40,000 workers in Taiwan.

TSMC shares yesterday rebounded 4.9 percent to NT$267.5 by the close of trading in Taipei, retreating from a gain of 7.45 percent in the middle of the session.

Foreign investors bought a net 17.39 million shares, breaking 13 consecutive sessions of net outflows.

Since early this month, the stock has plunged 16 percent, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.

TSMC is not the only technology company that has implemented a work-from-home policy in Taiwan. Last week, flash memory chip controller supplier Phison Electronics Corp (群聯) began to encourage some of its employees to work remotely.

Contract chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) has not yet implemented a remote work policy.

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companies: Apple Google 台積電

title: TSMC initiates remote working


title: LCD TV panel shipments to drop 8.9%: TrendForce

content_text:
Global shipments of LCD TV panels this quarter are expected to decline 8.9 percent year-on-year as large-scale lockdowns in China stalled shipments and disrupted component supply chains amid the COVID-19 pandemic, market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday.

Shipments of TV panels this quarter are to fall to 63.78 million units, down 12.7 percent quarterly, the Taipei-based researcher said in a report, adding that lower supplies would increase panel prices.

With the pandemic progressively under greater control in China, shipments next quarter are expected to rebound 7.1 percent quarter-on-quarter, thanks to demand pushed back from this quarter, TrendForce said.

However, oversupply is likely to return, as higher jobless rates due to fallout from the pandemic weaken the purchasing power of consumers, it said.

Last month, LCD panel shipments fell 3.5 percent month-on-month to 20.07 million units, but shipments this month are expected to rebound 14 percent after transport and people’s lives return to normal, TrendForce said.

China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co (華星光電) became the world’s largest TV panel supplier, as its shipments increased 0.2 percent monthly to 3.73 million units, replacing BOE Technology Group Co (京東方科技), which saw shipments fall 14.1 percent to 3.46 million units, TrendForce tallies showed.

BOE Technology’s shipments marked the company’s lowest monthly total since June 2017, TrendForce said, adding that the company’s factories, which are scattered across China, faced a more severe shortage of labor and components than their rivals due to city lockdowns.

China’s HKC Optoelectronics Technology Co (惠科) climbed to third worldwide, as shipments jumped 64.7 percent to 2.61 million units due to deferred orders, while Taiwan’s Innolux Corp (群創) — which also grappled with a shortage of key components and labor, causing its ranking to drop by a notch to No. 4 — saw its TV panel shipments fall 15.2 percent month-on-month to 2.51 million, TrendForce tallies showed.

Samsung Electronics Co stayed in fifth, as shipments increased 1.4 percent to 2.06 million units amid an increase in factory utilization in response to improving panel prices.

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content_text:
Chunghwa Telecom (CHT) is the sole developer of an electronic disease prevention platform and has not formed a partnership with any nation for its development, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday.

As governments worldwide grapple with methods to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, the platform garnered international attention on March 14 following an announcement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordering that all leisure businesses and activities in Israel be shut down.

Israeli authorities planned to use invasive technology to track the whereabouts of people infected with COVID-19 and those with whom they come into contact, Netanyahu said, without specifying the nature of the technology.

Media reports later identified the technology as cellphone tracking.

“Up until today I avoided using these measures in the civilian population, but there is no choice,” Netanyahu said. “It gives us a very, very effective tool to locate the enemy, to locate the pathogen, and to try and isolate it instead of isolating the whole country.”

The technology “was tested in Taiwan, apparently with great success. Israel is one of the only countries with this ability and we will use it,” he said, adding that the Israeli Ministry of Justice had been consulted on the proper use of such measures among the general public.

The commission yesterday said that some commentators in Taiwan have misinterpreted Netanyahu’s remarks, saying that the platform was developed using Israeli technology.

“We want to make it clear that the platform was developed solely by Chungha Telecom, which did not work with any nation to develop the system,” the NCC said.

Regarding concerns that use of the platform could constitute an invasion of the privacy of people placed in home isolation or quarantine, the commission said that the Communicable Disease Control Act (傳染病防治法) and Special Act on COVID-19 Prevention, Relief and Restoration (嚴重特殊傳染性肺炎防治及紓困振興特別條例) both give the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) clear authorization to enforce any disease prevent measures it deems necessary.

Use of the platform would not infringe upon people’s privacy, it added.

“Officials from the Executive Yuan’s Department of Cyber Security, the Centers for Disease Control [CDC] and the NCC first made plans for the system. Chunghwa Telecom was entrusted with the task of developing and launching the system on Feb. 1,” the NCC said.

“The system, the functions of which have been continuously optimized, has been used to track the subscribers of the nation’s five telecoms who were asked to undergo home isolation or quarantine,” it said.

First, the CDC compiles a list of people who need to be placed in home isolation or quarantine following close contact with COVID-19 patients or those who have returned from high-risk countries or areas, the NCC said.

The list is double-checked by local health and civil affairs departments, which ascertain whether the people can be reached at the cellphone and addresses they provide, it said.

The people’s cellphone numbers are then sent to the telecoms, which regularly report on the associated devices’ locations, which are derived from smartphone GPS data and the triangulation of base station data, it added.

If an isolated or quarantined person leaves their home, an alarm is triggered on the platform and their service provider sends a warning message to the person, as well as to local police, health and civil affairs agencies, the NCC said.

The warning message — written by the CECC — includes the person’s address, as well as the times and dates that they were found to have left their home, it said.

In addition to reminding them that they should immediately return home, it also warns them that they face a fine and compulsory resettlement for breaching home isolation and quarantine regulations in the Communicable Disease Control Act, it added.

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title: Virus Outbreak: CHT working alone on tracking system: agency


people:
Kolas Yotaka
蔡英文
林佳龍

title: Virus Outbreak: Cabinet unveils financial aid measures

content_text:
LOOKING INWARD:
 The Ministry of Transportation and Communications plans to give coupons to people with canceled overseas trips to promote domestic tourism

The Executive Yuan yesterday unveiled its latest policies to provide financial aid to people and companies affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, including wage subsidies and deferred income tax payments for people working in the tourism and hotel industries.

People affected can apply to postpone paying income taxes for one year or pay in installments of up to 36 months, Minister Without Portfolio Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) told a news conference in Taipei.

The Ministry of Finance would also issue tax rebates sooner than in previous years, he said.

From left, Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Wellington Koo, Minister of Finance Su Jain-rong, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka, Minister Without Portfolio Kung Ming-hsin, Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin and Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung attend a news conference in Taipei yesterday to announce an economic bailout plan.
 Photo: CNA

State-owned banks are to roll back interest rates for people who have taken out loans, with people paying mortgages of up to NT$10 million (US$329,859) eligible for a 0.5 percent interest cut on top of an earlier planned 0.5 percent reduction over the course of six months, while those who are repaying auto loans or credit card bills of up to NT$10 million would receive an interest rate cut of 0.75 percent — up from the 0.25 percent originally promised, Kung said.

Other measures for affected people include a grace period for late telecommunications bills of up to six months, during which they would continue to receive service, he said.

Households that include seniors or minors with disabilities would have their subsidies increased by NT$1,500 for three months, which is expected to benefit about 1 million people, he added.

Small stores that are exempt from issuing receipts would receive tax discounts of up to 100 percent, while those that issue receipts would be allowed to postpone paying business tax for one year, or pay it in installments of up to 36 months, Kung said.

The central bank is prepared to offer loans totaling NT$200 billion to small and medium-sized enterprises from its own funds, he said.

Each application could secure up to NT$2 million, 90 percent of which would be guaranteed by the central government, with an interest rate of no more than 1 percent, Kung said, adding that banks that provide loans of more than NT$2 million can request collateral, but not impose interest rates of more than 1.5 percent.

As the tourism and hotel industries have been the hardest hit by the pandemic, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications is to give NT$200,000 to each hotel, between NT$50,000 and NT$100,000 to each bed and breakfast, NT$100,000 to each travel agency, and NT$200,000 to each recreational facility and amusement park owner, he said.

Employers in the two industries whose revenue has been reduced by at least 50 percent, continue to pay workers and have not cut salaries by 20 percent or more would be eligible for monthly wage subsidies of NT$10,000 per employee for three months, provided that they are not already receiving subsidies from the Ministry of Labor to hire people who became unemployed due to the pandemic, he added.

The Ministry of Transportation and Communications has also sourced NT$50 billion to offer as loans to airlines, Kung said.

Many of the policies were drafted according to instructions by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) after she received a briefing by the Cabinet, he said.

Asked to comment on reports that the Ministry of Transportation and Communications has earmarked NT$1 billion in coupons for people whose overseas trips have been canceled due to the pandemic, Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said that the ministry aims to redirect such trips to the domestic market.

The aim is to give each person NT$500 of coupons to encourage them to embark on domestic trips, but the details of the plan need to be ironed out in upcoming Cabinet meetings, he said.

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content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Taipei, New Taipei to discuss procedures

Ten issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic are to be discussed tomorrow in a meeting between Taipei and New Taipei City, Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) said, while the Taipei City Government yesterday announced the name of a man who broke a home quarantine order.

After holding Taipei’s 22nd disease prevention task force meeting on Monday afternoon, Huang said that the two cities would discuss 10 main issues related to disease prevention, including their standard operating procedures.

Taipei has many standard operating procedures — including on enhancing disease prevention measures at hotels, designating disaster prevention officers and establishing disease prevention taxis — while New Taipei City has many disease prevention resources, so the two cities could share their practices and support each other, she said.

Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang yesterday tells reporters that the Taipei City Government has found a hotel that can serve as a “quarantine hotel” and is capable of providing 100 beds.
 Photo: CNA

As a large number of people commute between the two cities via the MRT metropolitan rail network, control measures at all MRT stations should be the same, Huang said, adding that as many people reside in one city and work or study in the other, the city governments want to share information about cases so that contact investigations are more comprehensive.

Huang also suggested that the central government should publicize the names of people who have breached home quarantine orders, as imposing fines of up to NT$1 million (US$32,986) has proven to be an insufficient deterrent.

Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center, yesterday said that “publicizing the names of individuals who breach the regulations can be considered if it is beneficial toward preventing the further spread of the coronavirus.”

If local governments keep that principle in mind and try their best to protect personal information, the center would respect their decision, he said.

Huang yesterday publicized the name of a man surnamed Chen (陳) who returned to Taiwan from Beijing on Saturday last week and broke quarantine.

City health officials have been unable to contact Chen, as he listed an unregistered mobile phone number, and no one was at his address in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投), she said.

“All Taipei residents who are placed under home isolation or quarantine will receive at least two unannounced spot checks during the [14-day] period,” Huang said.

As of yesterday afternoon, there were 9,212 residents under home quarantine and 470 under home isolation, she said.

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people: 陳時中 黃珊珊


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Hackers target WHO, cyberattacks rise

TARGETED:
 Although hackers are known to be seeking to capitalize on concern over COVID-19, a cybersecurity expert said he had never seen anything to this extent before

Elite hackers tried to break into the WHO earlier this month, sources said, part of what a senior agency official said was a more than two-fold increase in cyberattacks.

The identity of the hackers was unclear and the effort was unsuccessful, WHO Chief Information Security Officer Flavio Aggio said.

However, he warned that hacking attempts against the agency and its partners have soared as they battle to contain COVID-19, which has killed more than 15,000 worldwide.

The attempted break-in at the WHO was first flagged to Reuters by Alexander Urbelis, a cybersecurity expert and attorney with the New York-based Blackstone Law Group, which tracks suspicious Internet domain registration activity.

Urbelis said that he picked up on the activity around March 13, when a group of hackers he had been following activated a malicious site mimicking the WHO’s internal e-mail system.

“I realized quite quickly that this was a live attack on the World Health Organization in the midst of a pandemic,” he said.

Urbelis said he did not know who was responsible, but two other sources briefed on the matter said they suspected an advanced group of hackers known as DarkHotel, which has been conducting cyberespionage operations since at least 2007.

Messages sent to e-mail addresses maintained by the hackers went unreturned.

Asked by Reuters about the incident, Aggio confirmed that the site spotted by Urbelis had been used in an attempt to steal passwords from multiple agency staffers.

“There has been a big increase in targeting of the WHO and other cybersecurity incidents,” Aggio said in a telephone interview. “There are no hard numbers, but such compromise attempts against us and the use of [WHO] impersonations to target others have more than doubled.”

The WHO published an alert last month warning that hackers are posing as the agency to steal money and sensitive information from the public.

Government officials in the US, Britain and elsewhere have also issued cybersecurity warnings about the dangers of a newly remote workforce as people disperse to their homes to work and study because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The motives in the case identified by Reuters are not clear.

UN agencies, the WHO among them, are regularly targeted by digital espionage campaigns and Aggio said that he did not know who precisely at the organization the hackers had in their sights.

Cybersecurity firms including Romania’s Bitdefender and Moscow-based Kaspersky said that they have traced many of DarkHotel’s operations to East Asia — an area that has been particularly affected by the coronavirus.

Specific targets have included government employees and business executives in places such as China, North Korea, Japan and the US.

Costin Raiu, director of global research and analysis at Kaspersky, could not confirm that DarkHotel was responsible for the WHO attack, but said that the same malicious Web infrastructure had also been used to target other healthcare and humanitarian organizations in the past few weeks.

“At times like this, any information about cures or tests or vaccines relating to coronavirus would be priceless and the priority of any intelligence organization of an affected country,” he said.

Officials and cybersecurity experts have warned that hackers of all stripes are seeking to capitalize on international concern over the spread of the coronavirus.

Urbelis said that he has tracked thousands of coronavirus-themed Web sites being set up daily, many of them obviously malicious.

“It’s still around 2,000 a day,” he said. “I have never seen anything like this.”

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title: Negotiators expect to sign US$2tn stimulus package

content_text:
‘POLITICAL GAMES’:
 Mitch McConnell said that it was ‘time to get with the program’ and accused Democrats of trying to steer more aid to public health and workers

Top US congressional and White House officials on Monday emerged from grueling negotiations at the Capitol over a nearly US$2 trillion coronavirus rescue package saying that they expected to reach a deal yesterday.

US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin and US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said that they had spoken by telephone with US President Donald Trump during the long night of negotiations.

While the two sides have resolved many issues in the sweeping package, some remain.

US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks to reporters in Washington on Sunday.
 Photo: Reuters

At midnight on Monday, they emerged separately to say talks would continue into the night.

“We look forward to having a deal tomorrow,” Mnuchin told reporters after exiting Schumer’s office.

“The president is giving us direction,” Mnuchin said. “The president would like to have a deal and he’s hopeful we can conclude this.”

Moments later, Schumer agreed that a deal was almost within reach, saying: “That’s the expectation — that we finish it tomorrow and hopefully vote on it tomorrow evening.”

The long evening of shuttle negotiations came after a long day trying to close the deal. The massive package is a far-reaching effort to prop up the US economy, help households and bolster the healthcare system amid the growing crisis.

Mnuchin said that talks were expected to resume at 9:30am yesterday.

Tensions flared on Monday as Washington strained to respond to the worsening coronavirus outbreak, with the US Congress arguing over the nearly US$2 trillion economic rescue package and an impatient Trump musing openly about letting the 15-day shutdown expire on Monday next week.

As the US braces for an onslaught of sick Americans, and millions are forced indoors to avert a spike that risks overwhelming hospitals, the most ambitious federal intervention in modern times is testing whether Washington can act swiftly to deal with the pandemic on the home front.

“It’s time to get with the program, time to pass historic relief,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said angrily earlier in the day as he opened the chamber after a nonstop weekend session that failed to produce a deal. “This is a national emergency.”

Fuming, McConnell warned Democrats — pointedly US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi — to quit stalling on “political games,” as he described Democratic efforts to steer more of the aid toward public health and workers, and push other priorities.

Trump, who has largely been hands off from the negotiations, weighed in late on Monday from the White House briefing room, declaring that Congress should vote “for the Senate bill as written,” dismissing any Democratic proposal.

“It must go quickly,” Trump said. “This is not the time for political agendas.

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content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Spanish soldiers find bodies in nursing homes

‘EXCEPTIONAL MEASURE’:
 Madrid’s public cemeteries cannot accept more bodies because staff do not have adequate protective gear to handle the surge in deaths

Spanish soldiers deployed to help fight the COVID-19 outbreak have found elderly patients abandoned, and sometimes dead, at retirement homes, as an ice rink inside a Madrid shopping mall was turned into a temporary morgue to cope with a surge in cases.

The army has been charged with helping to disinfect retirement homes in Spain, one of the countries worst hit by the pandemic. Dozens of deaths from COVID-19 have been recorded at facilities across the country.

“We are going to be strict and inflexible when dealing with the way old people are treated in these residences,” Spanish Minister of Defense Margarita Robles said in an interview with private television channel Telecinco.

“The army, during certain visits, found some old people completely abandoned, sometimes even dead in their beds,” she added.

An investigation has been launched, the general prosecutor announced.

The death toll in Spain on Monday surged to 2,182 after 462 people died within 24 hours, Spanish Ministry of Health figures showed.

Meanwhile, the ice rink at the Palacio de Hielo, or Ice Palace, shopping center in Madrid was turned into a temporary morgue to deal with a surge in deaths in the capital, a spokeswoman for Madrid City Hall said.

Earlier, the city hall said that the city’s 14 public cemeteries would stop accepting more bodies because staff there did not have adequate protective gear.

The improvised morgue would start to be used “in the coming hours,” the regional government of Madrid said.

“This is a temporary and exceptional measure which aims to mitigate the pain of the family members of the victims and the situation hospitals in Madrid are facing,” it said.

A nearby congress center has been converted into a field hospital for coronavirus patients that is to have a total of 5,500 beds.

The elderly are especially vulnerable in the global pandemic and officials around the world are increasingly calling for extreme measures to safeguard them.

Retirement homes are “an absolute priority for the government,” Spanish Minister of Health Salvador Illa told a news conference. “We will exercise the most intensive monitoring of these centers.”

Under coronavirus protocols, health workers have been told to leave bodies in place in suspected COVID-19 deaths until the arrival of a doctor, but given the upsurge in deaths the delay can be lengthy.

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content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Turks fight virus with secret weapon: cologne

In Turkey, sprinkling hands with cologne has long been a ritual for a visit to the barber, a meal at a restaurant or even a trip on the bus.

It is seen as a symbol of hospitality, as well as an aid to hygiene, in a country that sets great store by both.

Now Turkish cologne — found in almost every household, either in the fridge or a closet — is seeing unprecedented demand as a weapon in the fight against COVID-19.

A man pours cologne into another’s hands at Sultanahmet Square in Istanbul on Saturday, as a preventive measure amid the outbreak of COVID-19.
 Photo: AFP

Many Turks believe cologne, which has a high alcohol content, is effective in keeping hands and faces clean and thus warding off the risk of COVID-19.

Long lines could be seen outside cologne shops in Istanbul’s busy Spice Bazaar in the historic Eminonu District early this month before Turkey announced its first confirmed case.

Now shops and pharmacies have put up signs reading “cologne sold out.”

People are commonly seen sprinkling cologne into their hands in the middle of the street, while taxi drivers offer doses to their clients.

An association in the northwestern city of Izmit is delivering free cologne, as well as bread, to the elderly, local media reported.

Eyup Sabri Tuncer, a leading traditional cologne maker, said it has received tens of thousands of orders in the past few weeks.

“In order for a healthy delivery to the customers ... we have temporarily suspended further online orders,” company official Atilla Ariman told reporters.

Bottles of cologne have flown off the shelves since Turkish Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca urged Turks to use the liquid as an alternative hand sanitizer against the virus.

One user, Ilyas Gocdu, said that he is using cologne three times more than before.

“I believe it is more effective against germs, as it contains alcohol,” he said.

Demand is so great that a black market has developed for cologne and other hand sanitizers, with Istanbul police raiding a manufacturing plant last week to confiscate products made “unhealthily.”

Announcing his government’s economic stimulus package last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that masks and cologne would be handed out free to people aged 65 and over.

Turkey has so far recorded 37 coronavirus-related deaths and 1,529 cases.

Is the belief that cologne is effective against coronavirus grounded in science?

Professor Bulent Ertugrul, board member of the Turkish Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, said that alcohol can destroy the outer membrane of the coronavirus.

“As alcohol is a good solvent, it destroys this lipid envelope,” he said.

Ertugrul said the best protection against the new coronavirus is washing one’s hands after contact with the environment.

However, he added: “If soap and water are not available, using a hand sanitizer that is at least 60 percent alcohol can help.”

Cologne fits the bill, he said.

“As we know, cologne contains at least 70 percent alcohol,” he said. “That’s why it is a good hand sanitizer against COVID-19.”

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content_text:
Nigeria player dies in traffic accident, another kidnapped

A soccer player formerly on Nigeria’s national team was killed in a traffic accident and another was kidnapped by gunmen while driving on the same day, their clubs said on Monday.

Ifeanyi George, who played two games for Nigeria in 2017, was killed along with teammate Emmanuel Ogbu when their vehicle collided with a parked truck in southern Nigeria, on Sunday.

Their deaths were announced in a statement from their club, Rangers International.

George was 26. Ogbu was a member of the club’s youth team. A third man who was in the vehicle and who was not a soccer player was also killed.

The Nigerian Professional Football League was suspended last week because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and George and the other men were reportedly returning home to Lagos.

Also on Sunday, Nigeria striker Dayo Ojo of two-time African Champions League winners Enyimba International and a player from a different team were kidnapped by gunmen while traveling to Akure in southwestern Nigeria.

Enyimba said another of their players escaped.

Ojo played for Nigeria at the 2018 African Nations Championship, when the team made the final.

Kidnappings for ransom are relatively common in Nigeria, with soccer players and coaches, and their families, often targeted.

Former Nigeria captain John Obi Mikel and former national team coach Samson Siasia have both had relatives kidnapped.

Siasia’s mother was kidnapped and later released last year. Mikel’s father has been kidnapped twice, the last time while his son was playing for Nigeria at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

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title: FIFA joins COVID-19 fight

content_text:
FIFA has joined with the WHO in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, with FIFA president Gianni Infantino calling for teamwork to tackle the crisis.

Infantino on Monday joined WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a news conference in Geneva, Switzerland, to launch the “pass the message to kick out coronavirus” video campaign.

“We need teamwork to combat the coronavirus,” Infantino said. “FIFA has teamed up with WHO because health comes first.”

Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, right, shoots against Real Sociedad in their La Liga match at the Camp Nou in Barcelona, Spain, on March 7.
 Photo: Reuters

“I call upon the football community worldwide to join us in supporting this campaign to pass the message even further,” he said. “Some of the greatest players to have played the beautiful game have put their names to the campaign and are united in their desire to pass the message to kick out COVID-19.”

Twenty-eight players — including Argentina forward Lionel Messi, Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and Brazil goalkeeper Alisson Becker — have backed the initiative aimed at reinforcing five WHO guidelines in stemming the spread of the coronavirus.

They feature in video clips issuing reminders about washing hands, sneezing etiquette, distancing, face-touching and what to do if you develop symptoms.

“This virus is a global problem and it has shown to all of us two things. One, is how vulnerable we are and the other is how global the world is. Exceptional situations require exception measures and global problems require global solutions,” Infantino said. “We have to be strong, and follow the guidance of WHO and our governments, and after we will have to rebuild our relations with maybe, and hopefully, more solidarity and understanding for each other. Football is ready to play its part for that.”

FIFA has pledged US$10 million to support the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.

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content_text:
The COVID-19 pandemic could force many boxers to leave the sport for financial reasons, leading British promoter Eddie Hearn said on Monday.

Hearn, whose Matchroom Boxing promotes world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, told the BBC that those fighters starting out in the sport or at the bottom of the ladder face tough times.

“If this drags on to September, October, November, December, we’ll have fighters that have not boxed this year,” Hearn said. “The fighters at the top end are going to be fine, but the fighters coming through, small-hall fighters, ones starting their careers or those who do not have a sponsorship deal, face big concerns. They will have to give up the sport of boxing and get a job, and that’s heartbreaking for someone trying to live their dreams.”

Britain’s Anthony Joshua, right, lands a punch on Andy Ruiz Jr of the US in their world heavyweight title fight at the Diriyah Arena in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, on Dec. 7 last year.
 Photo: Reuters

The British Boxing Board of Control on Monday said that it had extended a ban on all events under its jurisdiction until the end of next month, while this year’s Tokyo Olympic Games, which many amateurs use as a platform before turning professional, look likely to be postponed a year.

“Look at the Olympics — these people have grafted for four years to achieve their dream and fight in Tokyo,” Hearn said. “There’s no chance of these Olympics taking place, so what are they going to do? Everything is going to be a complete reshuffle of every sport.”

Joshua, the World Boxing Association, World Boxing Organization and International Boxing Federation (IBF) champion, is due to fight Bulgarian IBF mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev in June, but that fight could slip to July or later while everything is still up in the air.

Hearn, who has canceled or rescheduled a number of other fights with no certainty of those happening, said boxing would survive, but the same could not be said for all the promoters and businesses.

“If you don’t run a sustainable business, very quickly this is going to unfold on you like a ton of bricks,” he said.

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title: Virus may force fighters out of boxing: Hearn


title: Virus Outbreak: Ship behind jump in Australian cases

content_text:
‘MOMUMENTAL STUFF-UP’:
 Differing messages from federal and state authorities about schools and other issues are confusing parents, an opposition politician said

Australia yesterday reported a jump in coronavirus cases that was almost entirely due to passengers who disembarked a cruise ship in Sydney several days ago, prompting widespread criticism of the official response to the pandemic.

The ship, Carnival Corp’s Ruby Princess, became the country’s largest source of coronavirus infections as one of its passengers also became the eighth fatality nationally.

In a chain of events described by New South Wales (NSW) Police Minister David Elliott as a “monumental stuff-up,” about 2,700 passengers were allowed to leave the ship when it docked in Sydney on Thursday last week.

Puppy Django looks out the car window in Bordertown, South Australia, as his owner, Jon Cross, fills out paperwork at a police checkpoint to cross back into the state from Victoria yesterday.
 Photo: Reuters

By yesterday, about 130 of those passengers had tested positive and officials were frantically hunting down other travelers to test them and track their movements.

Australia stepped closer to a full lockdown yesterday, with authorities warning of harsher penalties for anybody violating self-isolation orders as they began to worry that hospitals were starting to feel the strain.

With 1,984 cases, Australia has registered significantly lower rates of COVID-19 compared to elsewhere in the world, but the infection rate has quickened in recent days and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said it was now at a “critical stage.”

While schools officially remained open in most of the country, parents were strongly advised to keep their children home, as all other non-essential services, including movie theaters, pubs and houses of worship, were closed for the first full day.

“We are ramping up our compliance,” Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney. “There are harsh penalties and we’ll enforce that. We have to take this seriously.”

Carnival Corp said it was “profoundly sorry” to learn that the Ruby Princess passenger, a woman in her 70s, had died.

Authorities had initially classified the ship as low risk because it was returning from an 11-day round trip to New Zealand, despite around a dozen passengers showing signs of ill health.

About 60 percent of the passengers were Australian, and 20 percent were from the US, ship records showed.

The ship had been rated “medium risk” after its previous cruise, again to New Zealand. On that trip, some 158 passengers registered high temperatures.

Nine were tested on arrival in Sydney on March 8 and were allowed to disembark before passengers for the most recent cruise embarked later the same day.

A couple from the prior cruise who flew on to Darwin later tested positive for COVID-19.

As the Ruby Princess case numbers rose, officials denied passengers on the Swiss-owned MSC Magnific cruise permission to disembark on the west coast, despite MSC Cruises’ assurances that none showed any signs of a respiratory or flu-like illness.

Australia’s move to a stricter lockdown was beginning to show visible signs of social stress with long lines forming outside offices of the main welfare agency across the country.

For many, there has been anger over mixed messages from officials in Australia’s system of federal and state governments, which are separately responsible for regulating different services.

The operation of schools has been a flashpoint, with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison advising they remained open and safe for students to attend, while some state leaders urged parents to keep their children home.

“It is as clear as mud and no wonder parents are confused out there,” opposition Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese told Australian Broadcasting Corp Radio.

Meanwhile, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday said she has asked Morrison to authorize a “short-term exception” to allow New Zealanders living and working in Australia to have access to welfare benefits.

The Labor Party Labor also urged the government to use expanded powers endorsed by the Australian Senate on Monday night to allow the more than 1.6 million temporary visa holders in the country immediate access to special benefit payments to prevent hundreds of “trapped” migrants who lose work becoming destitute.

Additional reporting by the Guardian

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content_text:
PROUD, BUT BOWING OUT:
 The Dallas center missed all of 2018 due to Guillain-Barre syndrome, but Travis Frederick returned to be a standout again last season

Dallas Cowboys Pro Bowl center Travis Frederick on Monday stunningly announced his retirement.

Frederick, who turned 29 on Wednesday last week, was a Pro Bowl selection in five of his six NFL seasons.

Frederick revealed his retirement in a lengthy letter, beginning it by writing: “After much consideration, discussion, and reflection, I have decided to retire from football. This was not an easy decision.”

Dallas Cowboys center Travis Frederick, left, congratulates Amari Cooper after the receiver scored a touchdown against the Miami Dolphins in their NFL game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Sept. 22 last year.
 Photo: Matthew Emmons-USA Today

Frederick cited his bout with autoimmune disease Guillain-Barre syndrome as a factor.

He missed the 2018 season due to the illness in which the body’s immune system attacks the nervous system, but he returned to be a standout again last season.

“I started a journey almost two years ago that completely blindsided me,” Frederick wrote. “When I developed Guillian-Barre Syndrome, I did not know how to handle things. I was scared. That experience forced me to reevaluate my life priorities. I spent much of that year thinking about both the past and future. I realized how fortunate I was to play a game for a living. I realized how fortunate I was to make friends and become teammates with some great men.”

“Most of all, I realized the importance of my family and how much I want to be there for their peaks and valleys as they were for me,” he wrote. “Football is risky. Each day, players go to work knowing this could be their last day playing. Facing the potential end of my career because of my illness forced me to imagine life after football.”

Frederick does not know what he will do, but said that he and his wife Kaylee “will continue to make a positive impact on the Dallas community.”

Frederick started all 96 games he played for the Cowboys while being considered one of the top centers of the past decade.

He was a first-round pick (No. 31 overall) in 2013 out of Wisconsin.

Frederick first made the Pro Bowl in 2014 and was selected four seasons in a row before sitting out in 2018.

He again was tabbed after this past season, even though he felt his play had slipped a notch.

The Cowboys allowed the second-fewest sacks (23) with Frederick back after allowing the second-most sacks (56) when he sat out in 2018.

“I made my return to the field, played well overall, and was selected to the Pro Bowl, but it was a difficult year for me,” he wrote. “Each day I faced a struggle: I could no longer perform at my highest level. Playing ‘well’ is not what I expect of myself and is not what my teammates deserve. Because of this, I know my days as a football player are done.”

“I am proud of what I have accomplished in my career, and I walk away with my head held high,” he added.

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title: Cowboys’ Frederick in shock retirement


content_text:
身處在科技時代，不用出門只稍動動手指，全世界的美食、好物，甚至連情趣玩具都能直送妳家，雖然有時需等個7～10天才能取貨難免有些掃興。但COSMO Angel認為在網路上購買情趣用品還是有些好處，像是能貨比三家不吃虧，或依照評價選擇適合的玩具不踩雷，有些使用心得甚至詳盡到驚人的程度！所以要買之前不妨上網做點功課，像是該買哪種款式、尺寸大小、無線或有線...等等

不過，為了讓妳不用爬文爬到天昏地老，COSMO Angel貼心地統整13款網購最熱銷的情趣用品，保證讓妳從中選到心頭好！

TRACY'S DOG陰蒂乳頭吸吮器，US$25.69

女孩們！醒醒！不是東西只要會震，就能帶來愉悅感，切記術業有專攻，陰蒂和乳頭要用吸的不是用震的，所以若想讓體驗不同於震動的快感，不妨試試像男人嘴巴一樣靈活的吸吮器。

PHANXY多功能假陽具，US$28.99

為了追求不同形式的高潮，有些人會去買各種不同的情趣玩具來玩，但對於不喜歡家裡擺滿情趣玩具的人來說，COSMO Angel蠻推薦能同時吸吮陰蒂、填滿私密處的多功能按摩棒。

SEXY SLAVE無線遙控跳蛋，US$16.89

無線跳蛋讓人又愛又恨，愛它方便、舒服、好清潔卻又恨它貴，而這款之所以能上榜，除了因為震動波段超強之外，價格也很實惠，更重要的是特殊造型能頂到G點，震得妳不要不要～

SHIBARI迷你電動按摩棒，US$27.95

通常耐操好用、續航力強、強度夠的按摩棒都有個缺點，就是太大隻，揮別按麼棒都很笨重的形象，迷你電動按摩棒在排行榜中強勢出線，不僅強度夠、防水之外，還能透過USB充電非常方便！

UTIMI醫療級矽膠假陽具，US$16.99

有些錢真的不能亂省，情趣用品若光用摸得就覺得太粗糙，怎麼敢把它放進身體裡，而這款採用醫療級ABS矽膠打造的假陽具不僅能輕鬆滑進體內，甚至讓沒高潮過的女網友噴得亂七八糟！

PALOQUETH兔耳造型假陽具，US$25.99

號稱「情趣用品經典之作」的PALOQUETH電動假陽具，之所以能有此封號，除了特殊弧形設計之外，還有那有如兔耳一般的陰蒂按摩器，能分毫不差地按摩到妳的敏感帶，聽說比男人還準喔！

IM IMO陰莖震動環，US$25.96

這款矽膠陰莖震動環，可以同時讓男性增加持久力、還能在性交時刺激陰蒂，最重要的是很安靜，即使門外有人也不用擔心被聽到，若不小心噴水水也不擔心，因為它100%防水喔～

CALEXOTICS高CP平價跳蛋，US$5.99

跳蛋是第一次購買情趣用品的入門首選，簡單好操作、功能不會太複雜，只需要把它放在對的位置，再照著轉盤上的刻度控制震動強度即可，而且價格也不會太高，算是CP值很高的玩具！

LUXELUV可彎式電動假陽具，US$21.99

這款假陽具最為人津津樂道的就是它，功能強大、顏值高，能按摩陰蒂也能直搗花心，還能根據妳的喜好去隨意彎曲它，把它凹成能按摩到G點的弧度，就連附贈的收納盒質感也超好！

SVAKOM舌頭造型震動器，US$34.99

這款造型像舌頭的震動器，特殊弧度非常符合人體工學，使用起來意外地順手，「小而巧、安靜有勁」是許多人給它的評價，充電後可連續使用一小時，無論是自己玩或跟伴侶一起都很適合！

ODECO超強續航力無線跳蛋，US$39.96

這款無線跳蛋的續航力非常驚人，最長可連續使用兩個小時，旁邊的圓形小圈環是遙控器，價格雖不便宜但質感非常好，就連包裝也很精緻，是個送禮自用兩相宜的好物！

SATISFYER十一段變速陰蒂吸吮器，US$44.68

別看它小小一隻，這可是網路上討論度超高的情趣玩具，上千名網友都給予5星平價，稱讚它安靜、防水之外，特殊的11段變速也是賣點之一，甚至還有網友表示：「每個女人都該有一個！」

PALOQUETH無線震動指環，US$23.99

這款充電式防水手指振動器，使用方式非常簡單，只要像戒指一樣套在妳的手指上即可，特殊上鉤設計讓妳精準控制角度和位置，把它輕輕推進私密處，就能感受強烈震動帶來的快感。

文／柯夢波丹 圖／AMAZON.COM

情人節之夜想玩情趣新套路？全球頂級情趣玩具直送台灣，最低下殺47折，性愛專家都推薦！

女性鄉民告解最想試的8個野戰地點：「無邊際泳池、狹小的陽台，居然還有會議室？！」

＊本文由 柯夢波丹Cosmopolitan Taiwan 報導，未經授權同意不得轉載＊

更多流行時尚資訊，盡在《柯夢波丹》

title: 「情趣用品」熱銷排行榜出爐　網友私心大推無線小幫手


title: Asian stocks rise over US Fed pledges

content_text:
ECONOMIC SUPPORT:
 Traders were encouraged by the Fed’s promise to buy as many Treasury bonds and other assets as needed to keep markets functioning

Asian stock markets yesterday gained after the US Federal Reserve promised support to the struggling US economy as the US Congress delayed action on a US$2 trillion coronavirus aid package.

Market benchmarks in Tokyo soared more than 7 percent and South Korea rose nearly 6 percent, while Shanghai, Hong Kong and Australian markets also gained.

Traders were encouraged by the Fed’s promise to buy as many Treasury bonds and other assets as needed to keep financial markets functioning.

That came as Wall Street fell 3 percent after Congress failed to approve an economic support package that would send checks to US households and offer support for small businesses and the hard-hit travel industry, but US Democrats have said that it favors companies too heavily at the expense of workers and public health.

“Asian investors like what they see from an all-in Fed, which is being viewed in a very impressive light for both Main and Wall Street even as the US congress dithers,” AxiCorp Financial Services Pty Asia Pacific market chief strategist Stephen Innes said in a report.

The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo rose 7.13 percent — the biggest jump since February 2016 — or 1,204.57 points to close at 18,092.35, while Seoul’s KOSPI Composite Index gained 8.6 percent to 1,609.97 after the government doubled a planned economic rescue package to 100 trillion won (US$80.41 billion). The Shanghai Composite Index rose 2.34 percent to 2,722.44.

The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong was 4.36 percent higher at 22,642.70, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 4.17 percent to 4,735.70. Markets in New Zealand and Singapore also advanced.

The Fed’s promise goes beyond the US$700 billion in asset purchases announced last week.

The central bank said it would buy a wide range of investments, including corporate bonds for the first time, to improve trading in markets that help home buyers finance mortgages, state and local governments borrow, and businesses get enough short-term cash to make payrolls.

“The pressure is now on Congress to get its act together and provide the support that the Fed cannot do — helping the vulnerable people who face the biggest health and economic consequences,” ING Groep NV economist James Knightley said in a report.

“The risk is that this wall of support from the Fed and the positive reaction in markets may give Congress a sense that it has more time and the pressure to deliver a package is reduced,” Knightley said.

On Monday, trading on the New York Stock Exchange went all-electronic for the first time after the trading floor was temporarily closed as a precaution. The exchange announced the move last week after two employees tested positive for COVID-19. The number of floor traders had dwindled sharply in recent years as trading has become increasingly electronic.

Wall Street and some other stock markets have lost nearly one-third of their value over the past month, as business shutdowns spread, and airlines, retailers and other industries suffer rising losses.

Economists are increasingly saying that a recession seems inevitable. Analysts are slashing their forecasts for upcoming corporate profits. Forecasters have said that they cannot project how deep the downturn might be or how long it might last.

Professional traders have said that investors need to see a decline in the number of new infections before markets can find a bottom.

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content_text:
Life insurers’ first-year premiums (FYPs) last month declined 22.19 percent annually to NT$74.37 billion (US$2.45 billion), as people lost interest in products with lower returns, the Life Insurance Association said in a report, adding that it was the second consecutive month that FYPs had fallen.

Cathay Life Insurance Co’s (國泰人壽) FYPs dipped 23.7 percent to NT$10.66 billion, Nan Shan Life Insurance Co’s (南山人壽) decreased 50 percent to NT$9.09 billion and Shin Kong Life Insurance Co’s (新光人壽) fell 12.91 percent to NT$6 billion, association data showed.

Fubon Life Insurance Co (富邦人壽) bucked the trend with a mild increase of 1 percent to NT$11.02 billion, the data showed.

In the first two months of this year, total FYPs plunged 33.7 percent year-on-year to NT$153.86 billion as sales of traditional life insurance policies fell 33 percent to NT$124.39 billion and sales of investment-linked products (ILPs) fell 35.1 percent to NT$29.47 billion.

ILP sales declined as insurance companies offered lower investment returns after the Financial Supervisory Commission required that target-maturity bond funds be linked with policies that only invest in bonds with ratings of “BBB” or higher, the association said.

The retreat in FYPs for traditional life insurance policies could be attributed to insurers continuing to decrease the products’ declared interest rates, which determine the bonuses that policyholders would gain, it said.

Declared interest rates for most New Taiwan dollar-denominated interest-rate sensitive policies provided by major insurers were lowered to 2.1 percent last month, from a range of 2.15 to 2.25 percent a month earlier, the data showed.

Sales were also affected by the commission’s policy to reduce insurers’ liability reserve interest rates by 25 basis points from Jan. 1, which caused an average increase of about 2 to 3 percent in premiums for new policyholders, the report said.

Consumers might remain indifferent to traditional life insurance products, as insurers must comply with a new regulation that is to take effect in July prohibiting them from offering unrealistically high returns, the report said.

The factors that weakened the momentum of life insurance sales in January continued to weigh on the industry last month, the association said.

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title: First-year premiums at life insurers continue to fall


content_text:
From impassioned debates around the kitchen table to detailed reports about matches that never happened, Europe’s soccer media are working overtime to give fans a welcome distraction during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Former Tottenham Hotspur, Barcelona and England striker Gary Lineker, a keen amateur chef, even opened up his home in a bid to satisfy the public’s appetite for sports talk.

As presenter of long-running British top-flight highlights show Match of the Day, Lineker, ignoring social distancing guidelines, played host to regular studio guests Alan Shearer and Ian Wright around his kitchen table at the weekend.

Match of the Day was screened as a panel show on Saturday, with Lineker, Shearer and Wright debating the greatest captains of the English Premier League era.

For once there was no talk of the video assistant referee, as former Newcastle United and Blackburn Rovers star Shearer detailed his memorable battles with Manchester United’s Roy Keane, while former Arsenal striker Wright described his use of “Franglais” to annoy teammate Patrick Vieira.

In what was due to be FA Cup quarter-final weekend, the BBC also filled the void of what would have been live games with classic matches from the competition’s past.

Linker, 59, has since gone into self-isolation after his 28-year-old son George told him that he might have contracted the coronavirus.

ITALY

In one of the nations worst hit by the pandemic, the Italian media have been focused on boosting national pride.

Sky Sports have already broadcast Italy’s matches on their way to victory in the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

The schedule for Monday was “a whole day spent together with Italian coaches who have left their mark in England.”

There were segments on Claudio Ranieri, who masterminded Leicester City’s fairy-tale Premier League title triumph, Roberto Mancini, who won the title at Manchester City, and Carlo Ancelotti, a double winner at Chelsea.

FRANCE

Much of the weekend’s French coverage was given over to the big clash between Olympique de Marseille and Paris Saint-Germain, which was meant to be played on Sunday.

Sunday’s edition of sports daily L’Equipe had a front-page montage of current PSG defender Marquinhos giving chase to Chris Waddle in a Marseille shirt.

Inside, the paper pitched together a dream team for each side — Marseille with Waddle, Didier Deschamps, Didier Drogba and Jean-Pierre Papin against PSG with Rai, Ronaldinho, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and George Weah.

Nostalgia has been a recurring theme and on Sunday night Canal Plus filled the slot that should have been dedicated to live coverage of the match by showing highlights of games between Marseille and PSG in the past decade.

BeIN Sports showed France’s 2018 FIFA World Cup final win against Croatia at the same time.

GERMANY

Sky Sports’ German channel spent the weekend running Bundesliga compilation packages featuring great goals and dramatic late winners.

Streaming service DAZN have put up every single UEFA Champions League final since 1991-1992.

Newspaper Bild summed up the desperation for some sporting drama the best. It teamed up with the Chess24 Web site to stream the World Chess Championship Candidates Tournament from Russia, under the headline: “Finally, some sport.”

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title: European media try to give soccer fans welcome distraction


title: Enimmune to seek approval for new vaccination

content_text:
Enimmune Corp (安特羅生技) plans to apply to the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration for marketing approval for its enterovirus 71 (EV-71) vaccine next quarter after the treatment passed an interim analysis yesterday.

If approved, it would be the nation’s first vaccine for EV-71, which is a common pathogen that causes polio-like syndromes, and mostly infects infants and children aged five and younger.

Although the firm has developed three EV-71 vaccines in China, the latest treatment would have an advantage in the home market, as it is designed to act against genotype B4 of EV-71, which is more widespread in Taiwan and Vietnam, while Chinese vaccines target genotype C4, Enimmune general manager Vic Chang (張哲瑋) told the Taipei Times by telephone.

The interim analysis was conducted by the firm’s independent data monitoring committee comprised of external experts, Chang said.

The experts monitored vaccinated test subjects for at least six months to see if they developed any allergic reactions, but none of them had severe reactions to the vaccine, barring some mild side-effects, such as inflamed skin, he said.

The overall seroprotection rate for the subjects who were given a single dose in the phase-III clinical trial was about 90 percent, higher than the regulatory minimum, Chang added.

“That means that our vaccines had good efficacy,” Chang added.

Enimmune, a subsidiary of Adimmune Corp (國光生技), has over the past decade focused on researching and developing the EV-71 vaccine.

The firm said that it completed a phase-III randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled trial in April last year with a 1,266 subjects.

Given that there is no medication for EV-71 infection in Taiwan except for supportive therapies, the vaccine would likely qualify to apply to the agency’s accelerated approval mechanism, in which review would be sped up for treatments that satisfy unmet medical needs and greatly advance treatment, Chang said.

“If everything goes smoothly, we anticipate gaining approval in the fourth quarter. Adimmune would help us manufacture the vaccines,” Chang said.

The government is also expected to consider including the vaccine in the National Health Insurance system, he added.

Meanwhile, Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp (高端疫苗) said that it would conduct an interim analysis of its EV-71 vaccine later this year after enrolling 3,000 subjects for a phase-III trial in December last year, spokesman Leo Lee (李思賢) said.

“We concentrate on developing the world’s first EV-71 vaccine for protecting children two months to six months old, given all existing EV-71 vaccines would be administered to children older than six months,” Lee said.

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content_text:
Sales in the nation’s wholesale sector in the first two months of this year fell 1.2 percent year-on-year to NT$1.56 trillion (US$51.46 billion) due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Monday.

Amid delays in shipments, the machinery equipment industry — the sector’s largest contributor — posted a 1.2 percent decline in sales to NT$572.7 billion.

The machine equipment industry comprises PCs, handheld devices, electronic devices, electric components, as well as other machines and equipment.

The spread of the coronavirus also affected the textile industry, which saw sales fall 8.5 percent as retail channels stalled while the industry’s upstream supplies waned, the ministry said.

On a brighter note, sales in the pharmaceutical industry rose 6.1 percent to NT$109.8 billion on growing demand for medicines and medical supplies, while the automobile industry posted a 14.7 percent surge in sales to NT$133.3 billion.

Sales in the retail sector increased slightly by 0.5 percent to NT$632.3 billion, thanks to a 1.7 percent increase in sales of general merchandise to NT$212.5 billion, the ministry said.

Sales in the e-commerce and catalogue sector grew 12.9 percent to NT$37.5 billion as consumers increasingly turned to online shopping, it said.

Sales of pharmaceuticals and cosmetics increased 5.5 percent year-on-year to NT$32.6 billion as people stocked up on anti-viral supplies, the ministry said.

Revenue in the food and beverage sector rose 0.5 percent from a year earlier to NT$141.5 billion, despite a lull in business for banquet-oriented restaurants as people avoided large gatherings, it said.

While sales at tea shops remained largely unchanged at NT$16.3 billion, catering services posted a 16.2 percent drop in sales to NT$5.8 billion as schools extended winter breaks, while airlines reduced flights, the ministry said.

Pointing to a yet to be contained outbreak and flailing oil prices, the ministry forecast a NT$82.5 billion drop in sales across the wholesale, retail, and food and beverage sectors for this month.

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title: Wholesale sector sales down 1.2%