Taiwan COVID case fined for lying about daughter's whereabouts

台灣冠狀病毒病例因謊報女兒行蹤而被罰款

Infectious Lions Club member slapped with NT$300,000 penalty for saying daughter was abroad


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A member of a Lions Club International chapter in New Taipei will receive a hefty fine for lying about his daughter's whereabouts after he tested positive for COVID-19, the city government said Saturday (May 15).

The man (case No. 1,229) was among the domestic cases linked to a recent community cluster in New Taipei's Luzhou District who had refused to provide his contact history during the investigation. He also lied about his daughter being abroad when she was actually in Kaohsiung, resulting in her not being included on the quarantine list.

Fearing for her safety, his daughter, who lives in Kaohsiung but visited him briefly in New Taipei this week, visited a local hospital for COVID-19 testing and was confirmed with the disease on Friday. She was listed as case No. 1,289.

Although earlier reports suggested that case No. 1,289 had learned about her father's diagnosis from a close relative, medical staff at the hospital where she underwent her COVID-19 test suspected that she had known it all along. They said the daughter did not mention her father's confirmed COVID-19 infection when she visited the hospital and that she claimed she was taking the test to go abroad.

Speaking to the media, New Taipei Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said case No. 1,229 will be fined NT$300,000 (US$10,724) for violating the Communicable Disease Control Act. He said the man's "unacceptable" behavior had created panic in the community.

Meanwhile, Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said case No. 1,289 took a TRA train from New Taipei to Kaohsiung after visiting her father. She also went to a PX Mart supermarket and a gym after returning to the city, he added.

Chen said while the investigation is still ongoing, the woman appeared to have deliberately concealed her father's COVID-19 diagnosis when she sought a COVID-19 test. If confirmed, a fine will be imposed on her accordingly, he said.