A BBC report that quotes Britons’ complaints about quarantine conditions they experienced in Taiwan is not true, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, expressing regret over damage done to the nation’s reputation for competent disease-prevention measures.
The BBC report published on Wednesday quoted the mother of a British woman quarantined in Taiwan as saying that her daughter and the daughter’s partner were quarantined on Wednesday last week and are being kept “in prison-like conditions.”
“The room is filthy. She has no hot water and nowhere to wash her clothes,” the mother was quoted as saying, without naming the location of her quarantine.
Photo provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Refuting the report at a news conference in Taipei yesterday, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center, said that the center “did not mistreat” the couple.
The quarantine center in Hualien County is a renovated school dormitory, which, athough not as comfortable as a hotel, is not “prison-like” or “locked,” as described in the report, ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said in a statement.
The center charges quarantined people NT$267 per day for the accommodation, food and necessary care, she said.
Photo provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
While center personnel did not initially understand the woman’s request for a “gluten-free diet,” they were able to satisfy her request starting with her third meal, Ou said.
The shower in the woman’s single room turned out to be broken, so the center arranged for her to stay in another room and have access to a personal shower, which is different from her claim that there is no hot water, she said.
The woman requested that she and her partner stay in the same room, but that was not approved because of the quarantine rules, Ou said.
Taiwanese are known for their hospitality and the ministry regrets that an internationally renowned media organization did not check the facts with the government before publishing the false information, she added.
Separately yesterday, the British Office Taipei said in a statement that it is assisting the quarantined woman and working with Taiwanese authorities to effectively address her concerns, including the accommodation of her specific dietary requirements.
Taiwanese authorities provided her with a telephone so that she can maintain contact with her family and friends, the office said, adding that its staff members are helping the woman with travel plans for after the quarantine is finished.
TRAFFIC SAFETY RULES: A positive result in a drug test would result in a two-year license suspension for the driver and vehicle, and a fine of up to NT$180,000 The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is to authorize police to conduct roadside saliva tests by the end of the year to deter people from driving while under the influence of narcotics, it said yesterday. The ministry last month unveiled a draft of amended regulations governing traffic safety rules and penalties, which included provisions empowering police to conduct mandatory saliva tests on drivers. While currently rules authorize police to use oral fluid testing kits for signs of drug use, they do not establish penalties for noncompliance or operating procedures for officers to follow, the ministry said. The proposed changes to the regulations require
Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung and Taoyuan would issue a decision at 8pm on whether to cancel work and school tomorrow due to forecasted heavy rain, Keelung Mayor Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) said today. Hsieh told reporters that absent some pressing reason, the four northern cities would announce the decision jointly at 8pm. Keelung is expected to receive between 300mm and 490mm of rain in the period from 2pm today through 2pm tomorrow, Central Weather Administration data showed. Keelung City Government regulations stipulate that school and work can be canceled if rain totals in mountainous or low-elevation areas are forecast to exceed 350mm in
The Executive Yuan yesterday announced that registration for a one-time universal NT$10,000 cash handout to help people in Taiwan survive US tariffs and inflation would start on Nov. 5, with payouts available as early as Nov. 12. Who is eligible for the handout? Registered Taiwanese nationals are eligible, including those born in Taiwan before April 30 next year with a birth certificate. Non-registered nationals with residence permits, foreign permanent residents and foreign spouses of Taiwanese citizens with residence permits also qualify for the handouts. For people who meet the eligibility requirements, but passed away between yesterday and April 30 next year, surviving family members
1.4nm WAFERS: While TSMC is gearing up to expand its overseas production, it would also continue to invest in Taiwan, company chairman and CEO C.C. Wei said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) has applied for permission to construct a new plant in the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區), which it would use for the production of new high-speed wafers, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council, which supervises three major science parks in Taiwan, confirmed that the Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau had received an application on Friday from TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, to commence work on the new A14 fab. A14 technology, a 1.4 nanometer (nm) process, is designed to drive artificial intelligence transformation by enabling faster computing and greater power
RSS