The number of furloughed workers amid a nationwide level 3 COVID-19 alert increased by more than 3,800 over the past week, bringing the total to 10,229, Ministry of Labor data showed on Thursday.
The number of furloughed workers in the lodging, and food and beverage sector rose to 2,864 from 972 on Wednesday last week, the data showed.
One-hundred-and-five additional companies in the sector furloughed workers, bringing the total to 175, it showed.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
The nationwide total of employees on unpaid leave rose by 3,846 to 10,229, while an additional 362 businesses implemented furlough programs, bringing the total to 987, it showed.
The number of furloughed workers in the retail and wholesale sector rose to 1,559 from 944, the data showed.
Department of Labor Standards and Equal Employment Director Huang Wei-chen (黃維琛) said that a level 3 COVID-19 alert has dealt a blow to those sectors.
The disease control measures also led to a fall in visits to dental and cosmetic clinics, as well as rehabilitation facilities, causing an increase in furloughed employees in the healthcare and social service sectors, Huang said.
New Taipei City, a COVID-19 hot spot, registered the largest increase in furloughed workers, up from 1,419 to 2,512, followed by Yilan County, where the numbers rose sharply from 82 to 914, Huang said, adding that travel and hospitality businesses in Yilan were hit hard by the restrictions.
The data on furloughed workers cover only unpaid leave plans that larger companies are required to report to the ministry.
However, most firms that implemented furlough programs are small businesses with fewer than 50 employees. Outside the COVID-19 pandemic, their programs usually lasted for less than three month and required workers to take five to eight days unpaid leave per month.
However, programs implemented in the past week often require workers to take 13 to 16 days unpaid leave per month, as many businesses in the lodging, and food and beverage sector, as well as nursing and healthcare providers, have been forced to suspend operations for as long as the level 3 alert remains in place.
The Central Epidemic Command Center on Wednesday extended the alert to July 12. It bans indoor gatherings of more than four people and outdoor gatherings of more than nine, while also mandating the closure of schools and many public venues.
Under the alert, which has been in place nationwide since May 19, members of the public are advised to stay at home if possible.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
A bipartisan group of US senators has introduced a bill to enhance cooperation with Taiwan on drone development and to reduce reliance on supply chains linked to China. The proposed Blue Skies for Taiwan Act of 2026 was introduced by Republican US senators Ted Cruz and John Curtis, and Democratic US senators Jeff Merkley and Andy Kim. The legislation seeks to ease constraints on Taiwan-US cooperation in uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), including dependence on China-sourced components, limited access to capital and regulatory barriers under US export controls, a news release issued by Cruz on Wednesday said. The bill would establish a "Blue UAS
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is suspending retaliation measures against South Korea that were set to take effect tomorrow, after Seoul said it is updating its e-arrival system, MOFA said today. The measures were to be a new round of retaliation after Taiwan on March 1 changed South Korea's designation on government-issued alien resident certificates held by South Korean nationals to "South Korea” from the "Republic of Korea," the country’s official name. The move came after months of protests to Seoul over its listing of Taiwan as "China (Taiwan)" in dropdown menus on its new online immigration entry system. MOFA last week
RSS