Businesses across Taiwan are scrambling to figure out how to return to work safely following a surge in domestic COVID-19 infections over the weekend, as the Centers for Disease Control guidelines call for companies to consider allowing their employees to telecommute.
Contract electronics maker Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦) said employees who live in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), and New Taipei City’s Banciao (板橋) and Lujhou (蘆州) districts would work from home for a week while other staff would work at the office.
Pegatron Corp (和碩), another contract electronics manufacturer which reported that one of its employees had tested positive for COVID-19, said it would divide employees into three groups to work in staggered shifts.
Semiconductors MediaTek Inc (聯發科) and Macronix International Co (旺宏) said they have requested employees who live in Taipei and New Taipei City to work remotely and in rotating shifts at the their Hsinchu offices and factories.
“As the pandemic alert has been raised to level 3, the company has upgraded its pandemic countermeasures again,” Macronix said in a statement. “Employees commuting between Taipei or New Taipei City [and Hsinchu] should work from home.”
Factory workers are divided into shifts that would rotate, Macronix said.
Non-essential visitors and suppliers are prohibited from entering the company premises, it said.
To reduce unnecessary movement, most business travel has been suspended and videoconferences would replace face-to-face meetings, it added.
MediaTek also announced similar measures to safeguard employees’ health and the company’s operations, with about 1,000 employees from 27 sites worldwide working remotely, it said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) said it would divide its workers into separate teams to minimize the risk of COVID-19 infection.
All non-essential vendors would be restricted from entering its facilities, it said in a statement.
TSMC employees and vendors with long-term ID badges must avoid moving across the Hsinchu, Taichung and Tainan sites, the chipmaker said.
Cross-site and Hsinchu site shuttle buses have been canceled, but commuter shuttle buses and Taichung and Tainan site shuttle buses would operate according to the planned separation of working areas and movement flows, it said.
Lloyd Roberts, who works at the Taipei office of the international law firm Eiger, said the transition to working from home has been seamless.
“They have spent a lot of time and money to make sure we have the best videoconferencing,” Roberts said. “We were already well-equipped before the pandemic, so we have been able to ease into it without a hitch.”
Outside the greater Taipei area, where most of the cases are, work seems to be less affected.
“Outside Taipei, it is business as usual,” said Manual Zehr, a consultant with Formosa Business Support, a consultancy for the offshore wind farm industry. “Crews are recruiting, training and operating.”
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Economic Affairs confirmed that an employee tested positive and had come into contact with five colleagues, prompting the ministry to divide its staff across two zones to work separately.
Tropical Storm Gaemi strengthened into a typhoon at 2pm yesterday, and could make landfall in Yilan County tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. The agency was scheduled to issue a sea warning at 11:30pm yesterday, and could issue a land warning later today. Gaemi was moving north-northwest at 4kph, carrying maximum sustained winds near its center of up to 118.8kph and gusts of 154.8kph. The circumference is forecast to reach eastern Taiwan tomorrow morning, with the center making landfall in Yilan County later that night before departing from the north coast, CWA weather forecaster Kuan Shin-ping (官欣平) said yesterday. Uncertainty remains and
SEA WARNING LIKELY: The storm, named Gaemi, could become a moderate typhoon on Wednesday or Thursday, with the Taipei City Government preparing for flooding A tropical depression east of the Philippines developed into a tropical storm named Gaemi at 2pm yesterday, and was moving toward eastern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Gaemi could begin to affect Taiwan proper on Tuesday, lasting until Friday, and could develop into a moderate typhoon on Wednesday or Thursday, it said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued as early as Tuesday morning, it added. Gaemi, the third tropical storm in the Pacific Ocean this typhoon season, is projected to begin moving northwest today, and be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday, the agency said. Today, there would likely
DISRUPTIONS: The high-speed rail is to operate as normal, while several airlines either canceled flights or announced early departures or late arrivals Schools and offices in 15 cities and counties are to be closed today due to Typhoon Gaemi, local governments announced last night. The 15 are: Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Tainan, Keelung, Hsinchu and Kaohsiung, as well as Yilan, Hualien, Hsinchu, Miaoli, Chiayi, Pingtung, Penghu and Lienchiang counties. People should brace for torrential rainfall brought by the storm, with its center forecast to make landfall on the east coast between tonight and tomorrow morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The agency issued a sea warning for the typhoon at 11:30pm on Monday, followed by a land warning at 11:30am yesterday. As of
CASUALTY: A 70-year-old woman was killed by a falling tree in Kaohsiung as the premier warned all government agencies to remain on high alert for the next 24 hours Schools and offices nationwide are to be closed for a second day today as Typhoon Gaemi crosses over the nation, bringing torrential rain and whipping winds. Gaemi was forecast to make landfall late last night. From Tuesday night, its outer band brought substantial rainfall and strong winds to the nation. As of 6:15pm last night, the typhoon’s center was 20km southeast of Hualien County, Central Weather Administration (CWA) data showed. It was moving at 19kph and had a radius of 250km. As of 3pm yesterday, one woman had died, while 58 people were injured, the Central Emergency Operation Center said. The 70-year-old