People who vote in the local elections on Saturday despite being ordered to quarantine risk a two-year prison term or a significant fine, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said on Friday, estimating that 50,000 to 70,000 eligible voters would have to quarantine due to COVID-19 that day.
In a telephone interview with the Central News Agency, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesman, said that confirmed COVID-19 cases who leave quarantine and infect others face a maximum penalty of two years in prison or a fine of NT$200,000 to NT$2 million (US$6,416 to US$64,164), as stipulated in the Special Act for Prevention, Relief and Revitalization Measures for Severe Pneumonia with Novel Pathogens (嚴重特殊傳染性肺炎防治及紓困振興特別條例規定).
People who test positive for the disease trough a self-administered rapid antigen test should book a physical or virtual appointment with a doctor as quickly as possible, Chuang said.
Earlier on Friday, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the CECC, told a news briefing that 50,000 to 70,000 eligible voters would be in mandatory quarantine on election day.
Asked whether people who tested positive in an at-home test, but had not been confirmed as infected by a doctor, could vote, Wang said that those cases are “difficult to regulate.”
Those people should stay at home to avoid infecting other people voting in the local elections and referendum on lowering the voting age to 18, Wang said.
People who have a fever or respiratory symptoms — which might be due to COVID-19 — should use designated passageways at polling stations to socially distance from other voters, he added.
The CECC urged people to get vaccinated with the new Moderna bivalent vaccine adapted to the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of SARS-CoV-2, saying that the vast majority of cases confirmed in the past few weeks had the BA.5 variant.
An earlier updated version of the original Moderna COVID-19 vaccine was adapted only to the Omicron BA.1 subvariant, the center added.
However, with Omicron remaining dominant, also in other countries, both Moderna vaccines are more effective against the disease than earlier COVID-19 vaccines, it said.
Chinese spouse and influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China videos that threaten national security, the National Immigration Agency confirmed today. Guan Guan has said many controversial statements in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” and expressing hope for expedited reunification. The agency last year received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification. After verifying the reports, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and explain her actions. Guan
GIVE AND TAKE: Blood demand continues to rise each year, while fewer young donors are available due to the nation’s falling birthrate, a doctor said Blood donors can redeem points earned from donations to obtain limited edition Formosan black bear travel mugs, the Kaohsiung Blood Center said yesterday, as it announced a goal of stocking 20,000 units of blood prior to the Lunar New Year. The last month of the lunar year is National Blood Donation Month, when local centers seek to stockpile blood for use during the Lunar New Year holiday. The blood demand in southern Taiwan — including Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Chiayi, Pingtung, Penghu and Taitung counties — is about 2,000 units per day, the center said. The donation campaign aims to boost
The Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau audited six hotels in an effort to prevent price gouging ahead of Korean band BTS’ concert tour in the city scheduled for Nov. 19, 21 and 22 this year. The bureau on Friday said that the audits — conducted in response to allegations of unfair pricing posted on social media — found no wrongdoing. These establishments included the local branches of Chateau de Chine, Hotel Nikko, My Humble House, and Grand Hai Lai, it said, adding that the Consumer Protection Commission would have penalized price gougers had the accusations been substantiated. The bureau said the Tourism Development Act
The military yesterday said it has located the flight data recorder, or black box, of an F-16V jet that disappeared off eastern Taiwan earlier this month, and it would soon deploy a salvage team to try to retrieve it. Air Force Command Headquarters said that while it had pinned down the location of the black box, it was still searching for the aircraft’s sole pilot, air force Captain Hsin Po-yi (辛柏毅). Without providing details, the air force said it had located the black box days after detecting some intermittent signals and would now engage a team of professionals to retrieve it. The air
RSS