The Taiwan Republic Office yesterday urged the Control Yuan to investigate Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) for his handling of the COVID-19 outbreak.
“Due to Ko’s negligence and mishandling of the situation, Taipei has seen COVID-19 cluster infections at several sites, which have spread to other regions,” Taiwan Republic Office director Chilly Chen (陳峻涵) said.
These clusters have led the Central Epidemic Command Center to extend a level 3 COVID-19 alert to July 12, which would further harm businesses that had hoped to reopen sooner, Chen said.
Photo courtesy of Taiwan Republic Office
The group said that Control Yuan member Chen Chin-jun (陳景峻) should initiate an investigation into the mayor, who they say “is responsible for the current infection situation in Taipei.”
Over the past few months, COVID-19 cluster infections have been linked to the city’s Wanhua District (萬華) and markets affiliated with Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing, the group said.
“Infections have almost spread out of control, yet throughout these periods, Ko chose not to take necessary action, with no contact tracing, no control on the flow of people, no listings to track infected workers and basically no control at these sites,” Chilly Chen said. “It is this inaction and mishandling that has caused infections to keep rising.”
Ko also “refused to cooperate with the central government,” Chilly Chen said, adding that “Taipei residents can see that he was incompetent in handling the situation, and worked to conceal information, while always blaming others for his failure.”
Taipei City Councilor Lee Chien-chang (李建昌) said that Ko was the main reason that Taipei’s COVID-19 situation got out of control.
“We demand that Ko admit his role in the current surges in infection in Taipei, through his inaction to impose epidemic prevention measures and inability to mount any effective strategy,” Lee said.
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