Taiwan High-Speed Railway Corp (THSRC) said yesterday it had ordered 105 members of its staff to work from home until May 5 after one employee was suspected of having contracted severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
"They have been asked to work from home as we were informed Wednesday that one of our employees might have contracted SARS," a THSRC spokesman said, adding that 12 of the 105 staff members have received home confinement notices from Taipei municipal health authorities.
As a rule, the spokesman said, all of the workers ordered to work from home will be paid during the quarantine period. He added that the headquarters of the company has been disinfected.
Meanwhile, Kang Ning Junior College of Nursing in Neihu announced that it would shut down for 10 days from yesterday because of SARS concerns. Some of the college's students had received training at Taipei Municipal Hoping Hospital where several probable and suspected SARS cases have recently been reported.
Kang Ning is the second local school to announce a temporary closure because of concerns about the disease, following Cardinal Tien College of Nursing in Hsintien, Taipei County, which has been closed since Wednesday after one of its students was suspected of having been infected with the highly contagious flu-like disease.
Some other schools, including Soochow University have suspended some classes.
Dozens of students at elementary and junior high schools near Taipei Municipal Hoping Hospital, most of whom are children of hospital staff, were absent from classes yesterday.
In related news, a group of shopkeepers at CKS International Airport asked the government for help yesterday to deal with a sharp drop in business.
Speaking at a news conference hosted by the KMT legislative caucus, Lin Hsiu-hsi (
Lin said the 30-plus stores at the airport have to pay more than NT$200 million in license fees a month, in addition to paying monthly shop rental fees of more than NT$4,000 per ping.
"Many of the airport shops have been operating in the red in recent months," Lin said, adding that it is the airport shopkeepers' hope that the government will suspend the license fees and halve the shop rental fees until the number of inbound and outbound passengers returns to normal levels.
Many legislators have supported the shopkeepers' appeal, urging the government to exempt them from paying license fees until the number of air travelers returns to 90 percent of the previous average.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it