People are required to strictly adhere to the autumn-winter COVID-19 prevention program during the Tomb Sweeping Day long weekend, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday as it reported six new imported COVID-19 cases.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC, said many people are expected to be traveling for tomb sweeping or tourism at the weekend, but while Taiwan is safe from COVID-19, the global situation is getting worse.
Average daily confirmed COVID-19 cases around the world last week reached nearly 80 percent of the previous peak period, and increased by about 15 percent from the week before, Chen said, adding that global COVID-19 deaths in the past week also increased by about 10 percent from a week earlier.
“We urge people to remain vigilant, practice the ‘new disease prevention lifestyle’ and wear a mask when visiting the eight types of public venues” previously announced in the prevention program, he said.
The venues are healthcare and long-term care facilities; public transportation; retail stores and markets; schools and educational facilities; sports and exhibition venues; places of worship; recreational venues; government facilities; and business venues.
“People who refuse to wear a mask at the venues after being asked face a fine of NT$3,000 to NT$15,000,” Chen said, adding that people who have a fever or respiratory symptoms should avoid visiting crowded public spaces.
The organizers, management or owners of outdoor scenic areas, amusement parks, night markets, traditional markets, parades, pilgrimages or other kinds of outdoor gatherings are required to limit visitor numbers and implement crowd control measures to make sure the participants can practice social distancing, or wear a mask, he said.
Separately, Chen said six imported cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Taiwan, including one that the center is concerned about and two that broke quarantine rules.
The former is a Taiwanese man in his 70s who permanently lives in the US and arrived in Taiwan on Jan. 3. He completed home quarantine without experiencing symptoms, but tested positive in a paid test on Monday.
Chen said the man had been in Taiwan for a long time before testing positive, so the center is concerned and would continue to conduct contact tracing.
Twelve people have so far been placed under home isolation and 41 are under self-health management, he said.
Two of the remaining cases are Indonesian fishermen in their 20s who arrived in Taiwan on March 4 and tested negative on March 17 upon ending centralized quarantine, Chen said.
They again tested negative in a paid test at a hospital on Wednesday last week after completing self-health management, he added.
However, after five people who rode in the same shuttle vehicle to the hospital tested positive, the two fishermen were placed under home isolation and their employment agency arranged for them to receive another test on Monday, which came back positive, Chen said.
Their employment agency might face a fine for breaking quarantine rules, as the two fishermen were supposed to be under home isolation on Monday, he added.
Chen said the other imported cases are a Bangladeshi student who arrived in Taiwan on Friday last week and began experiencing symptoms on Monday; a Taiwanese man who returned from Ethiopia on Sunday and reported having experienced suspected symptoms before his return; and a Burmese fisherman.
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