A Taipei resident who had breached his home quarantine order was found on Tuesday night in an Internet cafe and fined NT$1 million (US$32,976), Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) said yesterday, as the Taipei City Government announced a short-term COVID-19 relief plan.
Huang on Tuesday afternoon publicized the name of the man, Chen Tse (陳冊), who on Saturday last week returned from Beijing and was ordered to undergo 14-day home quarantine.
However, city monitoring officials were unable to contact him by mobile phone or at his home.
Photo: Liu Ching-hou, Taipei Times, from a police photograph
Chen was found by police at an Internet cafe on Nanyang Street, Huang said yesterday, adding that he had not returned to his home, but rather had been at the cybercafe since returning to Taiwan.
After locating Chen, police immediately asked him to don full protective clothing and took him to Taipei City Hospital’s Heping branch to be tested for the coronavirus, she said.
The city government would ask if he could be admitted to the central government’s centralized quarantine center if he tests negative, she added.
“The Taipei Department of Health is to impose the heaviest fine of NT$1 million for breaching his home quarantine order for more than 72 hours,” Huang said, urging people not to defy such orders, as breaking quarantine could not only cause harm to themselves, but also other people.
As the number of people placed in home isolation or quarantine has increased rapidly, borough wardens and city officials are overworked, she said.
The central government should allow local governments to recruit volunteers to help provide care for people in home isolation or quarantine, Huang said, adding that it should also consider giving officials and volunteers special subsidies.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday said that as the COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant negative economic effects, the city government has drafted a short-term relief plan to help prevent businesses from closing, which would cause a wave of unemployment.
The plan is comprised of six main measures: delaying tax payments; cutting water prices; reducing rent for city government-owned properties; rolling back interest rates at Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank and public pawnshops; and lowering house and entertainment taxes, he said.
Malaysian authorities have advised women to wear makeup, not to nag their husbands and speak with a cartoon character’s soothing voice during the virus lockdown, sparking a flood of mockery online. Like many countries, Malaysia has ordered all citizens to stay at home to stem the spread of COVID-19, which, as of yesterday, had killed at least 39,070 people globally. In a series of online posters with the hashtag #WomenPreventCOVID19, the Malaysian Ministry of Women and Family Development issued advice on how to avoid domestic conflicts during the partial lockdown, which began on March 18. One of the campaign posters depicted
KEEP AWAY: People should wear a mask in places where they cannot follow social distancing rules, the CECC said, adding that it would publish detailed guidelines today The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday announced 16 new cases of COVID-19, including two domestic cases, as it urged people to practice social distancing in public spaces by keeping a distance of at least 1m when outdoors and 1.5m indoors. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that seven of the new cases tested positive upon their arrival at the airport, four were under home quarantine, one was under home isolation and two were under self-health management, while the two domestic cases sought treatment on their own. The domestic cases are a man in his
Taiwan will negotiate with the WHO about its participation without Beijing’s help and intervention as more countries, including Australia and Japan, are partnering with Taiwan to curb the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a telephonic roundtable with reporters on Monday also supported Taiwan’s role in the WHO, saying the US Department of State would do its best to assist Taiwan’s “appropriate role” in the world’s highest health policy setting body, Voice of America reported. In a Japan Business Press report published on Sunday, Chinese Ambassador to Japan Kong Xuanyou (孔鉉佑) said
Japan’s ruling party yesterday proposed the nation’s biggest-ever stimulus package of ￥60 trillion (US$554 billion) as the COVID-19 pandemic locks the economy in a recession. The sum includes ￥20 trillion in fiscal measures with private initiatives and other elements likely making up the rest, the proposal by the Liberal Democratic Party showed. More than ￥10 trillion, or the equivalent of a 5 percentage point cut in the sales tax rate, would be handed out to the public in a combination of cash, subsidies and coupons, the plan showed. The proposal puts an initial figure on a stimulus package that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo
RSS