A Taichung man who traveled to Kaohsiung after being identified to have came into contact with a person with measles could be fined up to NT$300,000 (US$9,114) for contravening rules during the infectious period, the Kaohsiung health bureau said on Saturday.
The man, who is in his 30s, visited a hospital in central Taiwan — which has not been identified by authorities — on Dec. 20 and Dec. 21, and was later identified as a contact on Dec. 28 after a measles case was confirmed in a ward on the same floor as the one he visited, Kaohsiung’s Department of Health said.
The man traveled to Kaohsiung from Dec. 27 to Dec. 28 and visited multiple locations there, including attending an event at the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts, before returning to Taichung in the evening on Dec. 28, the bureau said.
Photo courtesy of the Taichung Mass Rapid Transit Corp
On Dec. 29, he developed measles-like symptoms, including a fever and chills, and sought medical attention at a clinic in Taichung the next day, before heading back to Kaohsiung on the high-speed rail on New Year’s Eve, it said.
From Tuesday to Thursday last week, he visited more than 10 locations in Kaohsiung, including spending two nights at the Hub Hotel’s Yisin branch in Cianjhen District (前鎮).
After developing a rash on New Year’s Day, he went to see a doctor on Thursday and was immediately placed in an isolation ward; the doctor then reported his case to the infectious disease system, the bureau said.
Because the man, who was diagnosed with measles on Friday, showed symptoms during the infectious period (Dec. 28 to Thursday), but failed to comply with “self-health management” rules, he contravened Article 48 of the Communicable Disease Control Act (傳染病防治法) and would be fined between NT$60,000 and NT$300,000, it said.
A total of 185 contacts in Kaohsiung have been identified, all of whom have undergone health assessments and are to remain under health monitoring until Jan. 20, it said.
The Taichung health bureau on Saturday announced that it had identified 20 contacts of the man in Taichung, and that it would continue to trace and identify additional contacts at the locations he visited.
Taiwan recorded 29 cases of measles last year as of Dec. 30, consisting of 19 domestic cases and 10 imported cases, the Centers for Disease Control said at a news conference on Tuesday last week.
Measles is a highly contagious viral disease that spreads easily when an infected person breathes, coughs or sneezes, and leads to severe illness, complications and even death.
It causes symptoms such as high fever, cough, runny nose and a rash that covers the entire body, the WHO says.
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