Taiwan authorities revoke quarantine fine for man after discovering he was kidnapped
Hong Kong (CNN) — Taiwanese
authorities said they will no longer fine a man for breaking quarantine
because investigators discovered he was kidnapped in an unfortunate
case of mistaken identity.
The
man, whose surname is Chen, had arrived from Hong Kong in late October
and was quarantining at a friend's house in the central city of Nantou,
according to a statement from the Changhua Branch of the Ministry of
Justice's Administrative Enforcement Agency.
On
November 1 at 11 p.m., debt collectors broke in and whisked Chen away
against his will, mistaking him for his friend. They forced him to pay
the debts and eventually returned Chen, who sustained injuries during
the ordeal.
Local
public health authorities initially fined Chen $3,500 for violating the
quarantine order, but the case was handed over to the Ministry of
Justice to investigate the claims of forced detention.
Police verified Chen's claim and the kidnappers are now under investigation, authorities said.
While
the case is unusual, the hefty fine is not. Taiwan has levied a series
of large fines on people violating quarantine as part of its world-class
response to the pandemic.
A migrant worker from the Philippines was fined $3,500 for stepping out of his room for eight seconds while quarantining
in a hotel in the island's southern Kaohsiung City, and a man in
Taichung in central Taiwan was fined $35,000 for violating home
quarantine at least seven times, local media reported.
Experts
say that Taiwan response to the pandemic has been one of the most
successful thanks to its early, decisive action -- an important lesson
the island took away from the deadly SARS outbreak.
Taiwanese
authorities began screening passengers on direct flights from Wuhan,
where the virus was first identified, on December 31, 2019 -- back when
the virus was mostly the subject of rumors and limited reporting and
well before Wuhan itself went into lockdown. By March, Taiwan had banned
all foreign nationals from entering the island, apart from diplomats,
residents and those with special entry visas. Those entering were
required to undergo quarantine.
Authorities
also invested in rapid track and trace programs and widespread testing,
both of which made it easy to keep the pandemic in check. The
democratically-ruled island of 23 million went months without a case, and to date has confirmed only 918 Covid-19 cases and eight virus-related deaths.
Taiwanese police and CNN have blurred parts of the above image to protect the identity of the man.
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