This Week in Taiwan 0516-0522
May 17: Following the major power outage across Taiwan on May 13, the Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) announced emergency regional power cuts on the evening of May 17. According to Taipower, this time was indeed a "power supply problem." The main reason is that the first generator at the Xingda Power Plant failed in the afternoon, and it took a long time to shut it down and repair. In addition, due to the current water shortage, hydropower was insufficient to support the large demand of residential electricity at night. The incident affected some 1.2 million households for nearly two hours. President Tsai apologized to the people and stated that like the people, she found the situation hard to accept.
May 17: Taiwan's Apple Daily published its last print edition. With "farewell" and "take care" in big print, the front page said bye to readers. The newspaper featured various classic news articles from 2003 to 2021 to bring an end to the newspaper which has operated for 18 years.
May 18: In a Facebook post, President Tsai reported on the development progress of domestic vaccines. She stated that two Taiwanese firms, UBI Pharma and Medigen Vaccine Biologics, have entered the final stage of the second phase of clinical trials and hopes that the first batch of domestic vaccines will be available before the end of July. Experts say, however, that inoculation should wait until the vaccines are proven safe and effective after the third phase of clinical testing. The government should not act rashly.
May 18: The resurgence of foreign capital and major reduction of financing, in addition to the expectation that American vaccines will come to Taiwan, encouraged Taiwan stocks to rise. Electronics, financial, and traditional manufacturing stocks rebounded strongly, with the stock index closing at 16,154.98 points, 792.09 higher than the previous day. This surpassed the 590.19 surge on November 29, 1989 and is the strongest single-day increase in history.
May 19: The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic situation in Taiwan continues to develop. The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced that the epidemic alert level would be raised to level 3 nationwide. A national epidemic prevention meeting will be held daily from May 20 to integrate epidemic prevention resources.
Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung announced that schools at all levels as well as public and private kindergartens shall suspend classes and switch to online instruction, affecting some 4 million students. He also urged students not to return home across district or county lines or travel recreationally, in order to avoid increased risks of infection.
In order to reduce the burden of domestic medical examinations, the CECC announced on May 17 that effective May 19 12 AM until June 18, the entry and transit of foreign passengers who are not Taiwanese citizens and do not hold a residence permit will be suspended.
May 19: The 400,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines purchased by Taiwan through the COVAX platform were delivered from the Netherlands to Taoyuan Airport in the afternoon. After being inspected by customs officers, the vaccines were sent to the cold chain pharmaceuticals warehouse for storage. The vaccines may complete inspection and be opened in seven days at the earliest. First-line medical staff will have priority to receive the vaccine, and the vaccines expire on August 31.
Moderna's reagents for testing also arrived in Taiwan. The first batch of Moderna vaccines may arrive in Taiwan as early as late May.
May 21: The government of Hong Kong announced on May 18 that it would close its economic, trade, and cultural office in Taiwan and stressed that the matter has nothing to do with the pandemic.
On May 21, Hong Kong stated the reason, claiming that Taiwan has recently interfered in Hong Kong affairs and severely undermined Hong Kong-Taiwan relations. In addition, the office staff has been intimidated by Taiwanese radicals, so the office has been temporarily closed, and all Hong Kong staff have left Taiwan.
The Mainland Affairs Council rejected the allegations as distorted facts and emphasized that it is the Hong Kong government's refusal to issue visas since 2018 that has hindered the rotation and operation of Taiwanese representative personnel in Hong Kong and disrupted the bilateral relationship.
May 21: The drought in central Taiwan is intensifying. There has been no significant rainfall for more than half a year. The largest Deji Reservoir in central Taiwan is facing a bottoming crisis for the first time in 47 years. The water level dropped to 1,322.6 meters on May 21, equivalent to a water strorage rate of 1.36 percent. Based on an estimated daily water intake of about 250,000 metric tons and output of 500,000 tons, there are only 10 days of water stock left. Once the water level drops to 1,320 meters as expected, the raw water will contain excessive sediment and cannot be dispensed for public use.
May 22: The CECC announced 321 new domestic cases of coronavirus. For the first time, the CECC also added 400 cases retroactively, spreading the numbers over the previous six days. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung, who heads the CECC, explained that the additional confirmed cases are being supplemented due to delayed notification and does not mean an increase of 721 cases in a single day or a major epidemic outbreak. The term "retroactive correction" sparked heated discussion on the Internet.