Taipei officials have fined a person NT$1 million (US$33,228) for breaking quarantine, Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) said yesterday.
It was the first time the city has issued the maximum fine for contravening its efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 in Taiwan.
The person, who was not identified, on Monday arrived from Xiamen, China, and according to Taiwan’s disease-prevention regulations, should have remained under home quarantine until March 23, the Taipei Department of Health said.
Photo: Shen Pei-yao, Taipei Times
The person was arranged to stay at a hotel, as they refused to provide their home address when passing through customs, the department said.
However, city officials and police could not find the person in their hotel room when they visited for a control check on Tuesday, it said.
The person was later found at Kaohsiung International Airport when they tried to purchase an airplane ticket out of Taiwan, the department said.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and the health departments in Taipei and Kaohsiung coordinated to have the person escorted to a quarantine center in Kaohsiung, it said.
Over the past two weeks, the Taipei City Government has fined 70 people — 63 of whom were fined NT$10,000, four were fined NT$70,000, and three were fined NT$50,000, NT$60,000 and NT$1 million respectively.
In related news, a woman who arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport from the US via Hong Kong on Monday traveled to her home in a regular taxi in contravention of regulations.
People arriving from Hong Kong must not use public transportation and must quarantine themselves at home for 14 days, according to regulations.
The woman initially tried to get on a bus to Tainan, but was turned away by driver after the driver found out that she had arrived from Hong Kong, airport police said.
She had not arranged anyone to pick her up and did not have a vehicle to travel home, police said.
After learning that she must take a designated “disease prevention” taxi or face a fine of between NT$100,000 and NT$1 million, the woman said that she had no money and loitered at the airport for seven hours, during which she removed her mask, they said.
Airport police said they could not fine her, as the rules stipulating punishments for such offenses were to take effect the following day.
Her family offered to pay for the taxi when she arrived home, but the woman refused, police said.
Although a police detail was stationed to watch the woman, and taxi and bus drivers were instructed not to transport her, she managed to board the airport tram to Terminal 1 and took a taxi to Taoyuan’s Nankan District (南崁), where she boarded a bus to Tainan, airport police said.
The incident suggests that the current policies need improvement, they said.
The CDC said that people under home quarantine may take public transportation if they wear a mask, but cannot take public transportation from an airport upon returning from a country or area with an at least level 2 “alert” travel warning, according to Ministry of Transportation and Communications’ disease-prevention rules.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH: China has sought to pressure Palau across a number of fronts, but the island nation has staunchly resisted overtures to ditch Taiwan Palau has been firm in backing Taiwan despite Chinese pressure that uses tourism economics, cyberattacks and criminal infiltration as tools to threaten the Pacific ally into renouncing its recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. The Presidential Office yesterday announced that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would visit Palau from Saturday to Wednesday next week at the invitation of Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. Whipps in April said in an interview that China had outspokenly asked Palau to “denounce Taiwan.” “And we have said: ‘We have no enemies, but nobody tells us who our friends are,’” he said. Whipps has told reporters multiple times
RSS