桃園市政府秘書處

Earlier this morning, the Executive Yuan announced 180 new local COVID-19 cases at a press conference. Most of these cases were reported in Taipei City and New Taipei City. In particular, the positive screening rate in the hotspots of Wanhua District has increased from an average of 0.5% to a range of 3%-5% now. Therefore, the central government has raised the COVID-19 alert level nationwide, with Taipei City and New Taipei City now being escalated to Level 3. At Taoyuan city’s meeting on pandemic control later this afternoon, Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan announced that Taoyuan City will raise its alert level from “Level 2” to “Pre-Level 3,” and that four types of venues and four night markets in Taoyuan will be closed from tomorrow until May 28.

According to Mayor Cheng, in the big living circle formed by Taipei City, New Taipei City, and Taoyuan City, commuters across the three cities will inevitably increase the risk of potential infections. To contain the pandemic, Taoyuan City will take precautions by raising its disease control level from Level 2 to Pre-Level 3. The city will enforce all control measures as adopted by Taipei and New Taipei City except for the one where indoor and outdoor gatherings are limited to 5 and 10 people respectively. The city will enforce name-based registration and leave flexible room for controling the number of people at gatherings.

Following Taipei and New Taipei City, Taoyuan City Government will shut down four major types of public venues including social welfare venues, cultural performance venues, sports venues, and leisure and entertainment venues until May 28. The four large night markets in the city: Taoyuan Night Market, Chungli Night Market, Bade Hsing-Ren Night Market, and Longtan Night Market will also be closed until May 28.Junior high and elementary schools in the city will not be open or rented out to the general public. Religious events, activities of associations or organizations, and community gatherings will all be suspended until May 28. The city government will start promoting and preparing for the launch of these measures on May 15 and officially enforce them on May 16. Business premises will still be required to take name/contact information and follow the government’s epidemic control measures. The city government will conduct rolling adjustments based on cluster risks and the course of the pandemic.

On administrative workforce adjustment within the city government, Mayor Cheng stated that each department will have the discretion over workforce arrangement and remote working, considering that 980 of the entire city staff commute from Keelung, Taipei, and New Taipei City. The city’s Secretariate and Department of Personnel will start planning and preparing for rotating shifts. Starting from May 17, the staff at service counters will be on rotating shifts to make sure that public services will continue.

Mayor Cheng also touched upon the adjustment of flexible working hours within the city government. Currently, city staff can choose to clock in between 8:00 and 9:00 and clock out at 17:00. Starting from May 17, flexible working hours will be adjusted to start between 7:30 and 9:30 and end between 16:30 and 18:30. The adjustment will help disperse the crowd during rush hours. Attendance records will be collected via the internet or staff ID card reading. Fingerprint clocking devices will be removed gradually to avoid contact transmission.

As this new wave of coronavirus infections sweeps across northern Taiwan, the effectiveness of the hospital joint prevention mechanism will play a pivotal role. Mayor Cheng has asked the Department of Public Health to take inventory of the total hospital beds, negative pressure wards, isolation wards, and designated wards in the city. The Department of Public Health will be coordinating hospital beds preserved for the use of infected patients of coronavirus.

Mayor Cheng called upon the citizens to avoid going to dinner parties or social gatherings to help reduce the risk of infections. He also urged for mask wearing, temperature taking, and alcohol disinfections in public places. Venues and business premises must abide by the city government’s rules to implement Pre-Level 3 control measures. The mayor also asked the citizens to only maintain the basic amount of household supplies and not to hoard or rush into panic buying. The city government will request that stores follow the government’s policies for epidemic control.

Mayor Cheng stated that in light of the recent development of the pandemic, the city government will hold daily meetings on epidemic control at the Fire Department starting from May 16 to keep in line with the central government’s policies and get a hold of the city’s work on epidemic control.