EDITORIAL: Keep calm and carry on
As the nation’s health officials and medical professionals strain every sinew to curb a sudden surge of COVID-19 cluster infections the most serious outbreak of the disease experienced by Taiwan to date the public is for the most part staying calm and behaving responsibly. That cannot be said for some of the nation’s politicians.
The most egregious example is Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Alex Fai (費鴻泰), who on Monday told a news conference that Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) should be executed by firing squad. Taiwan’s legislature is world-famous for its boisterous debating style, which often descends into scuffles, juvenile stunts and even chair throwing but for a lawmaker to call for a minister’s execution surely marks a new low.
Taiwan hit by rolling power outages
GRID PROBLEM: A Taipower spokesman said that the blackouts were not due to usage exceeding supply, nor were they because of a problem at the Singda plant
By Angelica Oung / Staff reporter
There were rolling blackouts across Taiwan yesterday due to a grid malfunction at the Singda Power Plant (興達電廠) in Kaohsiung’s Yongan District (永安), while Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) said that it was working “as hard as possible to resolve the issue as soon as possible.”
At 2:37pm, a malfunction at an ultra-high-voltage substation in Kaohsiung’s Lujhu District (路竹) triggered four generators at the Singda plant to go offline, cutting power output by 2.2 million kilowatts and prompting Taipower to initiate rolling blackouts nationwide as it worked on the problem.
Vaccines, quarantine for airline employees
By Weng Yu-chi 翁御棋
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, people from all walks of life have cautiously tried to maintain a normal life by working hard to combine disease prevention with normal business operations. The pandemic is having an unprecedented effect on the air transport industry, and crew members working in direct contact with passengers have the highest risk of being infected with COVID-19. Just like medical workers, airline crew are under unimaginable mental stress while they are on duty.
To save their business and boost their performance at a time when global demand for air transportation has declined sharply, nations have implemented different quarantine measures for airline workers than for regular travelers, but such a flexible approach might not only create loopholes in disease prevention, but also increase the risk of infection among airline workers.
CECC messages urge tests for visitors to Wanhua
PRIVACY SOUGHT: A testing station has been set up, but media were asked not to photograph it, as it might put people off amid a cluster linked to adult businesses
By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday sent 600,000 text messages to people who had been in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華) between April 15 and Wednesday, asking them to be tested at designated community facilities if they have had symptoms such as fever, diarrhea, or loss of taste or smell since April 15.
The center made the announcement after reporting 25 new COVID-19 cases yesterday, 13 locally transmitted and 12 imported.
CNA photo May 13, 2021
Taipei, May 13 (CNA) Two patients at a branch of Taipei City Hospital have tested positive for COVID-19, head of the city s Department of Health Huang Shier-chieg (黃世傑) confirmed late Thursday.
Huang made the confirmation after the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) issued a statement saying two people were diagnosed Thursday evening with COVID-19 after being treated at a local hospital, without identifying the institution.
The two new cases are a man and a woman both in their 60s, according to the CECC, which has yet to confirm the source of the infections.
The man and woman went to the hospital on May 9 and were hospitalized the same day and the next day, respectively, in different wards, said CECC spokesperson Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥).