《TAIPEI TIMES》 Minister faces outbreak probe

ANSWERS SOUGHT: The Control Yuan would focus on a shortened quarantine for airline crew members that is being blamed for sparking a local COVID-19 outbreak

By Hsieh Chun-lin and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer

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The Control Yuan yesterday said that it plans to question Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung （陳時中） to determine whether administrative negligence and a lack of preparedness were involved in a local COVID-19 outbreak.

The Control Yuan said that its investigation would focus on a shortened quarantine period for airline crew members, vaccine procurement, migrant workers’ rights and the operation of entertainment venues that allegedly provided illegal services in Taipei’s Wanhua District （萬華）.

It would uphold the principle of discussing the issues on their own merits, it said, adding that it would neither make false accusations nor indulge improper behavior.

It is widely believed that the cause of the current outbreak was a policy that allowed airline crew members returning from overseas flights to spend only three days in quarantine, and then self-monitor their health for 11 days, it said.

Control Yuan members Pasuya Poiconx （浦忠成） and Su Li-chung （蘇麗瓊） said that a lack of recordings from the meeting where the policy was allegedly discussed warranted an investigation to determine how the policy decision was made.

Teahouses in Wanhua registered as businesses that provided food and beverage services were found providing services that did not conform to regulations governing such businesses, Control Yuan member Lin Kuo-ming （林國明） said, adding that such businesses became a source of COVID-19 transmission.

How such businesses were allowed to operate for so long would need to be investigated, Lin said.

Although officials have spoken about the policy and procedure for procuring vaccine doses, repeated criticism from opposition parties has caused the public to doubt, Control Yuan member Lin Yu-jung （林郁容） said, adding that he would investigate the issue along with Control Yuan members Su, Wang Li-chen （王麗珍） and Hsiao Tsu-yu （蕭自佑）.

Separate probes are needed, but the members would start by questioning Chen, as the issues are all pandemic-related, they said.

Separately yesterday, Premier Su Tseng-chang （蘇貞昌）, in response to media queries on the matter, said that harshly criticizing anyone while the country was in the midst of fighting the outbreak was “insincere and unfair.”

“As everyone can see, last year Taiwan did a better job of fighting the pandemic than any other country, and people maintained normal lives for longer than people anywhere else,” he said.

“Now we are under renewed attack by new variants and the pandemic-response team is working hard every day. Do not start criticizing them now. It is unfair,” he said.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES