A foreigner has been fined NT$10,000 for breaching a mandatory home quarantine ordered to reduce the risk of a local 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak, the fifth person fined for arbitrarily leaving their quarantine location in the city, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday.
The man traveled from China’s Guangdong Province and arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Monday last week, when he was placed on a 14-day home quarantine in his hotel room, Disease Control Division head Yu Tsan-hua (余燦華) said.
However, the hotel reported that the man left his room on Saturday evening, when he was reportedly a little emotionally unstable, and went to smoke a cigarette in the stairwell for about six minutes, she said.
Photo courtesy of Penghu County Fire Department via CNA
The Communicable Disease Control Act (傳染病防治法) stipulates that people who enter Taiwan from disease-affected areas, or have had or might have had contact with patients or suspected patients, can be placed under home quarantine, concentrated quarantine, isolated care or other necessary measures.
A fine of between NT$10,000 and NT$150,000 can be imposed for breaching the act, Yu said, adding that in addition to the foreigner, four Taiwanese have been fined for breaching home isolation and quarantine measures.
Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) on Monday afternoon said that the city government has simplified the penalty procedure, allowing the department to impose such fines more efficiently and enforce the law more strictly.
In Taipei, there were 113 people placed in home isolation and 573 in home quarantine as of Monday, she said, adding that four reported experiencing symptoms.
However, there were also six people under home quarantine who cannot be contacted by officials, Huang said, adding that the city government has reported the cases to the National Police Agency.
Asked about a debate regarding whether to publicize confirmed patients’ information, she said that their personal data is protected by the act.
As no one wants to be infected or transmit diseases to other people, the city government believes that everyone who has had direct contact with infected patients would adhere to the home quarantine orders, she added.
On Monday afternoon, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said at the Central Epidemic Command Center that if the public has a negative attitude toward infected patients or people under home quarantine, more people might try to hide their symptoms, which would be harmful not only for them and society, but also the government’s disease prevention efforts.
Effective disease prevention relies on everyone’s cooperation, said Chen, who also heads the center.
SPEEDING ELETRIC VEHICLES: Available without license requirements, the low-cost vehicles, especially if illicitly modified, can often reach a dangerous speed The government should crack down on illegal electric bicycles and scooters, the non-profit Consumers’ Foundation said on Friday, citing research on the potentially dangerous speed of the vehicles. Electric bicycles and lightweight electric scooters have gained popularity as they do not require registration and riders do not need licenses, the foundation said, adding that as many as 40 percent of them can reach speeds exceeding the legal limit of 25kph for non-licensed two-wheelers. Some consumers also purchased legal electric vehicles and modified them to reach higher speeds, it said. “If the government does not step up efforts to confiscate these
‘RELIABLE PARTNER’: US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar praised the ‘Taiwan model,’ saying that the nation brought its spirit to its COVID-19 response The first memorandum of understanding (MOU) on health cooperation between the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the US Department of Health and Human Services was yesterday signed at the Centers for Disease Control in Taipei. The memorandum was signed between the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US, by AIT Director Brent Christensen and Taiwan Council for US Affairs Chairperson Jen-ni Yang (楊珍妮). US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar and Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) witnessed the signing of the memorandum, designed to enhance the nations’
Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) yesterday tweeted a welcome to Somaliland’s first representative to Taiwan, Mohamed Omar Hagi Mohamoud, who arrived on Friday. Mohamoud had “braved Chinese pressure” to take up his new post, Wu wrote. “The fact ‘sovereignty & friendship aren’t for sale’ deserves international recognition,” referring to a Somaliland media report earlier this month that Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi had rejected an offer by the Chinese government in exchange for ending its rapprochement with Taiwan. Wu also thanked the US National Security Council (NSC) for praising Taiwan-Somaliland ties. A council tweet on July 10 praised Taiwan
The Taipei City Government yesterday said that construction on the long-suspended Taipei Dome can resume immediately, after it approved a request by the project’s main contractor, Farglory Group. In a statement, the Taipei Construction Management Office said that after it on July 16 issued a new building permit, Farglory submitted revised design plans and an application to resume construction, which the office approved on Friday. Construction had been suspended on the dome, near the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Xinyi District (信義), for more than five years due to disagreements between the city and the company over the safety of some of
RSS