Authorities in Taipei have located 27 foreign women allegedly working as hostesses in Wanhua District (萬華) and arranged for them to be tested for COVID-19, police said yesterday.
The women are believed to be linked to a COVID-19 cluster that spread from teahouses in the district over the past week.
Due to the urgent need to track the women to contain the outbreak, police said they asked the National Immigration Agency and the National Police Agency’s International Section for information and to aid them in their search over the past few days.
Earlier this week, Wanhua Police Precinct officers checked 65 teahouses and other entertainment venues related to the cluster centered around Guangzhou Street and Sanshuei Street, finding 80 foreign women working as hostesses.
Police also identified an unspecified number of Taiwanese hostesses, and were able access their health history and addresses as they all have National Health Insurance and identification cards, they said.
Priority was given to finding the undocumented foreigners working illegally as hostesses, police said.
Of the 80 foreign hostesses, 53 had been located as of Tuesday, and they have been requested to undergo COVID-19 testing, they said.
Most of them were reportedly from China and Vietnam, as well as other Southeast Asian countries.
Taipei City Councilors had asked the police to quickly find the remaining hostesses over concerns that they might leave Taipei to return to their old jobs or find new employment, and spread the disease if they are infected.
The Wanhua Police Precinct yesterday reported that the remaining 27 women had been found as of noon and escorted to local COVID-19 testing stations in the afternoon.
Of the 53 women identified on Tuesday, 15 have been tested, 34 are waiting to be tested, two have departed for China, one has been placed under isolation and another would need to leave Taiwan when her visitor’s visa expires on June 11, police said.
However, some people said the reported figure does not match the actual numbers, saying that more checks are needed, as police have contacted only 22 of 65 proprietors in the Wanhua area.
There could be other Taiwanese or foreign hostesses who need to be tested for COVID-19, they said.
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
RSS