Man Fined $3,500 After Breaking Quarantine Orders For 8 Seconds

A man in Taiwan has been hit with a hefty $3,500 fine after breaking quarantine orders for just eight seconds. 

The fine was issued in Kaohsiung City, where a migrant worker from the Philippines was isolated to a quarantine hotel room. The unidentified man was captured on surveillance camera, briefly exiting his room to step into the hallway, breaking quarantine orders. Unfortunately for him, hotel staff saw the footage and quickly notified the Department of Health. The department fined the man 100,000 Taiwan dollars, which equates to almost $3,500, according to Taiwan’s official Central News Agency (CNA).

Kaohsiung City is home to 56 quarantine hotels, which houses nearly 3,000 rooms. Citizens who have tested positive for COVID-19 can go to one of the hotel rooms to safely isolate themselves from loved ones and decrease the risk of spreading the virus. According to CNN, Taiwan’s quarantine regulations prohibit citizens from leaving their quarantine hotel room for any reason.

The country’s strategic COVID-19 response has been met with international praise. Throughout the pandemic, Taiwan has never had to enforce strict lockdowns nor enact drastic restrictions on social privileges. Their success with managing the pandemic is largely due to the country acting fast during the early months when the virus was not being taken seriously in other parts of the world.  Taiwanese health officials began screening passengers on direct flights from Wuhan on December 31st, 2019.  Wuhan is the city in China where the first victim of the virus was identified. In addition, The Taiwanese officials also invested in mass testing and quick and effective contact tracing, CNN reported. As a result of the massive response, Taiwan, which is home to 23 million people, has reported only 716 coronavirus cases and seven deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.