Taipei records hottest June day in 124 years

TAIPEI, June 29 (Xinhua): Taipei has recorded its hottest day in June since the city's weather station came into being in 1896, Taiwan's weather department said Monday.

The temperature rose to 38.9 degrees Celsius in the city at noon Monday, due to a Pacific high-pressure system, prevailing hot, dry southwesterly winds, and the geographical features of the Taipei Basin, the weather department said.

The department issued a heat warning to 13 counties and cities across the island Monday.

The mercury soared past 36 degrees Celsius at midday in the cities of New Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung, as well as the counties of Hsinchu and Changhua.

Meanwhile, the number of employees taking unpaid leave in taiwan, a common measure to cut costs when business is slow, has exceeded 30,000, reaching the highest over the past decade, the island's labour affairs department has announced.

As of Tuesday, a total of 1,334 companies had put 30,505 employees on unpaid leave across Taiwan, up 11 and 667 respectively over the figures released a week ago, the department said in a statement.

The number of companies adopting this policy is also at its highest since statistics were first formally issued in January 2009.

A total of 16,047 employees in manufacturing were put on unpaid leave as of Tuesday, up 1,010 on the previous week, the largest figure for any sector.

The main reason for the slow business in manufacturing was a reduction in overseas orders, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the department said. - Xinhua