TRAVEL
HSR ticket event starts
The government yesterday launched a six-month campaign allowing foreigners making short visits to Taiwan to buy two high-speed rail (HSR) tickets to central and southern Taiwan for the price of one. From noon yesterday to May 31, people with visa-exempt entry or tourist visas allowing maximum stays of 180 days can purchase the tickets at online travel platforms KKday and Klook, the Tourism Administration said in a press release. Holders of Taiwan’s resident certificates or a Republic of China passport are not eligible to purchase the tickets, which are aimed at encouraging foreign tourists to visit less-traveled central and southern Taiwan, it said. The limited offer, based on a first-come, first-served basis, applies to HSR journeys ending at Taichung, Changhua, Yunlin, Chiayi, Tainan or Kaohsiung’s Zuoying stations, it said. Foreign tourists who take advantage of the promotion this month would be given a bonus package, containing free round-trip tickets on the MRT Taoyuan Airport Line and a 72-hour free pass on the Taipei Metro system. Visitors can redeem that special offer at service counters at the airport line’s A12 and A13 stations between 6am and midnight, it said.
HEALTH
Dengue fever rate eases
The nation reported fewer than 1,000 dengue fever cases in the past week, indicating that the epidemic is alleviating, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. Several areas in Tainan and Yunlin County have been removed from the list of hotspot transmission areas, and the situation in Kaohsiung has also become less severe, CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said on Tuesday. With the removal of Tainan and Yunlin’s Gukeng Township (古坑) from the list, there is no longer listed as a dengue fever transmission hotspot, indicating that the epidemic had entered its final phase, Lo said. Central Epidemic Command Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said the 759 domestic cases reported from Nov. 21 to Monday were in 14 administrative regions, mostly in Tainan, Kaohsiung and Pingtung County. Four deaths and seven severe cases were recorded during that week, Lee said. So far this year, the nation has logged 25,047 local dengue fever cases and 56 deaths, marking its worst outbreak since 2015, when there were more than 43,000 cases and 228 deaths.
SOCIETY
Mother dies in tent
A mother has died and her two daughters received medical treatment after suffering carbon monoxide poisoning at a Hsinchu County campground on Sunday, local authorities said. The Hsinchu County Fire Bureau said it received a call at about 2pm about a suspected poisoning at the campground in a mountainous area of Jianshih Township (尖石). Emergency responders found a woman, a 40-year-old resident of Taoyuan’s Longtan District (龍潭) surnamed Luo (羅), dead inside a tent. Her two daughters, aged 12, were taken by ambulance to a hospital, where they both regained consciousness, the bureau said. Hsinchu police said that initial suspicions were raised after the family failed to come out for breakfast on Sunday morning and then missed the 12pm check-out time. When the campground’s owner opened the tent to check on them, he found all three unconscious and immediately called an ambulance, police said. The bureau said the family might have taken a coal fire into their tent to keep warm as nighttime temperatures plunged. It added that it had referred the matter to police and prosecutors to investigate what exactly had happened.
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
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