Tax filing deadline for personal and business returns extended to June 30
Staff writer, with CNA
The deadline for filing tax returns for last year and making payments has been extended by a month, to June 30, in part to prevent crowding at National Taxation Bureau offices amid a COVID-19 outbreak, the Ministry of Finance said on Wednesday.
The extension applies to individual and business filings, it added.
The ministry made the announcement hours after Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said that the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) might raise the domestic COVID-19 warning to a near-lockdown level over the next few days.
Executive Yuan raises relief fund to NT$630 billion
By Jonathan Chin / Staff writer, with CNA
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a draft bill to expand a COVID-19 stimulus package, increasing its spending limit from NT$420 billion to NT$630 billion (US$15 billion to US$22.5 billion) and extending it to June 30 next year.
The bill is pending legislative review, and if it is not passed before the end of this month, lawmakers would have to convene a special session to pass the stimulus expansion.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) approved the bill at a Cabinet meeting, Executive Yuan spokesman Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) told a news conference.
CDC urges use of tracking app amid case rise
By Kayleigh Madjar / Staff writer
As domestic COVID-19 cases continue to rise, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is encouraging the public to download its smartphone app that notifies users who have had contact with a confirmed case.
The centers collaborated with Artificial Intelligence developer Taiwan AI Labs to create the decentralized Taiwan Social Distancing app (臺灣社交距離), available for free for iOS and Android devices.
It is currently only available in Chinese.
According to the onboarding information, users do not need to register or upload any personal information to use the app, which depersonalizes all data saved on the device.
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One of the tea parlors in Taipei s Wanhua District where a hostess was found to have contracted COVID-19 on Wednesday.
Taipei, May 13 (CNA) Health and Welfare Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said Thursday that the health authorities have found links between recent domestic COVID-19 clusters, as some of the confirmed cases in these clusters share the same mutated virus, while others have had contacts with carriers, which makes it less likely that the nation s COVID-19 alert will change.
The latest genome sequencing has shown that three domestic clusters in a Yilan game arcade, New Taipei s Luzhou District and an airport hotel in Taoyaun, shared the same mutations, which means they could be all part of the same cluster, Chen told reporters on the sidelines of a Legislative session.
DPP warns of virus disinformation
FOREIGN MEDDLING: Social media posts urging the importation of Chinese-made vaccines are part of ‘cognitive warfare’ efforts, a party spokeswoman said
By Jason Pan / Staff reporter
There is a concerted campaign, likely by external forces, seeking to sow mistrust and fear among Taiwanese, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokeswoman Hsieh Pei-fen (謝佩芬) said yesterday, urging the public to follow the Central Epidemic Command Center’s (CECC) COVID-19 prevention guidelines.
“Following reports of domestic cluster infections, people have seen an influx of dubious information and fake news on social media and other Web sites,” Hsieh said in a statement, adding that people should scrutinize such information and rely on reliable sources such as the CECC.