Bars in Taiwan's capital to close as COVID-19 infections spread

TAIPEI - Taiwan reported a record rise in domestic COVID-19 cases on Friday with 29 new cases and will close bars and nightclubs in the capital, Taipei, as community transmissions in part of city spread.

While Taiwan has reported just 1,291 cases, mostly imported from abroad, out of a population of some 24 million, a recent small rise in domestic infections has spooked residents and the stock market.

Health Minister Chen Shih-chung told a news conference that of the 29 new domestic infections many were connected with an outbreak in Taipei's Wanhua district, a mix of old temples, trendy shops and hostess bars.

Chen called on people who think they may have had contact with infected patients to go to rapid testing stations the government is setting up around Wanhua.

"The sooner testing happens, the sooner the chain of transmission can be broken," he added.

Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je said that bars, nightclubs, saunas and karaoke halls would close from Saturday.

The presidential office said a member of staff was in quarantine after meeting family members who had eaten with someone who later tested positive, but added that President Tsai Ing-wen had not had contact with the person and was in good health.

The cluster of infections has been linked by DNA sequencing to an earlier outbreak at an airport hotel and pilots at Taiwan's largest carrier, China Airlines Ltd.

Premier Su Tseng-chang, writing on his Facebook page, said there was no need to raise the island's COVID-19 alert level for the time being.

Comments by Chen on Wednesday that the alert level could soon be raised, which would potentially close all non-essential businesses, prompted a steep fall on the stock market, and officials have since downplayed the chances of that happening.

Taiwan has never gone into full lockdown. 

-reuters

Taiwan shuts down as ‘Megi’ strikes

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Taiwan went into shutdown Tuesday as the island faces its third typhoon in two weeks, with thousands evacuated, schools and offices closed across the island and hundreds of flights disrupted.

Typhoon Megi (Philippine name: Helen) is expected to make landfall in eastern Taiwan later Tuesday but is already bringing widespread violent winds and torrential rain as it nears the island.

More than 5,000 people have been evacuated from their homes and around 2,000 are in shelters, according to the Central Emergency Operation Center.  About 36,000 households have lost power due to the typhoon so far.

A total of 575 international and domestic flights were cancelled as of Tuesday morning, and 109 delayed. Most trains were also halted.

Television footage showed powerful waves surging past breakwaters in northeastern Yilan county and outlying Orchid Island.

Ahead of the storm, more than 3,700 tourists had already been evacuated at the weekend from Orchid Island and Green Island -- both popular with visitors.

At 0030 GMT, Megi was 220 kilometers (137 miles) southeast of the eastern county of Hualien, packing gusts of up to 198 kilometers (123 miles) per hour.

It is moving at 18 kilometers (11.2 miles) an hour -- slower than previously forecast -- delaying the time of landfall to around 0900 GMT Tuesday, according to Taiwan's weather bureau.

Hualien and Taitung, which are also popular with visitors for their coastlines and landscapes, will be in the firing line.

Those areas are still trying to recover from damage brought by Super Typhoon Meranti earlier this month -- the strongest storm for 21 years to hit Taiwan.

Meranti, which left one dead in Taiwan before killing another 28 as it moved to eastern China, was followed closely by the smaller Typhoon Malakas.

Mountainous regions in eastern Taiwan could see a total of up to 900 millimeters (35 inches) of rain through Wednesday, increasing the risk of landslides.

More than 35,000 soldiers are on standby to help with disaster relief.

source: interaksyon.com

Hundreds gather in Taiwan to support gay marriage bill

TAIPEI - More than 1,200 Taiwanese people joined a mock "wedding banquet" on Saturday aiming to drum up support for a same-sex marriage bill due to be sent to parliament soon, organisers said.

Participants sat around tables decorated with red cloths printed with the Chinese character for "wedding", as they had dinner and watched a video recording of local celebrities showing support as well as live performances in a makeshift banquet venue in a square outside the presidential office in Taipei.

"This looks likes a traditional wedding scene and even if it's not real, I think a picture is worth a thousand words and I hope we will get more public attention and support for same-sex marriages," said Richard Chen, a 22-year-old student from Taipei.

The event was aimed at building momentum for a bill on legalising same-sex marriage and civil partnership drafted by the advocacy group Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights, set to be submitted to parliament when its next session begins in mid-September, the alliance said.

"We organised the event in the form of a wedding banquet in the hope that everyone regardless of his or her sexual orientation can have equal rights to get married and have families," said Severia Lu, a spokeswoman for the alliance.

"We are optimistic about the bill as public support in Taiwan is growing while there is also a global trend to recognise same-sex marriages after France, Britain and New Zealand enacted such laws."

Gay and lesbian groups in Taiwan, one of Asia's more liberal societies, have been urging the government for years to make same-sex unions legal.

Last year, more than 50,000 gays and lesbians and their supporters marched in Taiwan to push for legalising same-sex marriage as the island marked its 10th annual Gay Pride event.

However, the campaign suffered a setback in January when Chen Ching-hsueh and partner Kao Chih-wei dropped their appeal to an administrative court against a government agency which had rejected their marriage registration in 2011.

Chen said he had "lost his faith in the judiciary" but added that death threats to him and his parents via Facebook had been among factors prompting him to abandon the appeal.

"I think there is still a difficult road ahead of us because there is not enough public consensus on the issue of same-sex marriages. I think we have to wait for one or two years for the bill to be passed," said participant Ruby Tsai, a 24-year-old who works in retailing.

source: interaksyon.com