Starting Tuesday, all classes will be suspended for 10 days in Taipei and New Taipei, at the high school level and below. The two city mayors made the announcement Monday morning, amid a fast-growing COVID outbreak in the region. The order affects all classes at nursery, primary, junior high, and senior high schools, as well as cram schools and daycares.

Ko Wen-je
Taipei mayor
From tomorrow on, classes are suspended at all Taipei City schools at the high school level and below. The duration of the suspension is two weeks.

Ahead of the CECC’s afternoon press conference, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je made an emergency announcement, that he was suspending school classes from May 18 to 28. Shortly afterward, the mayor of New Taipei followed suit.

Hou Yu-ih
New Taipei mayor
Classes will be suspended from May 18 to 28, although schools will not be closed. Parents who can’t look after their preschool or grade school-aged children at home will be provided with school-based childcare.

The order affects greater Taipei schools at the high school level and below, including primary, junior high, and nursery schools, as well as cram schools and daycare programs. Working parents can take unpaid leave to care for their children.

Chen Hsin-yu
Taipei Department of Labor commissioner
If a family has children up to 12 years old, or children with physical and mental disabilities, the parents are eligible to take family care leave. We ask employers to grant this leave. Employers that refuse are subject to a fine between NT$20,000 and NT$300,000. We will look into adjusting the penalty, based on the development of the pandemic.

To slow the spread of the virus, the Taipei and New Taipei governments have also introduced flexible work hours for civil servants. Instead of having to do the standard 9-to-6 or 8-to-5, staff can now clock in anytime between 7:30 and 10 in the morning, and clock out starting at 4:30 p.m. The adjustment grants an extra two-and-a-half hours of flexibility.

Lin Shu-er
Taipei Department of Social Welfare
The Executive Yuan’s Directorate-General of Personnel Administration has set 10 o’clock as the deadline for arrival. So matter when you swipe in, so long as you’re swiping in before 10 o’clock, we can set up the system to handle it. And if the supervisor approves it, staff can work from home. Over weekends, we’ve run a lot of data through the system. We’ve tested out the system connection, and we conducted a drill with our colleagues last Friday.

Meanwhile the New Taipei City Council has announced it will be adjourned until May 28. The Taipei City Council will be adjourned even longer, until June 8, as a pandemic precaution.