《TAIPEI TIMES》 Man fined NT$1.5m after posts show quarantine breach

/ Staff writer, with CNA

A New Taipei City man has been fined NT$1.5 million （US$51,395） for breaking mandatory quarantine after having tested positive for COVID-19, the New Taipei City Department of Health said on Sunday.

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The 18-year-old tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday and was ordered, along with his family, to undergo 10 days of quarantine in the family’s residence in New Taipei City’s Sansia District （三峽）, the department said.

However, the teenager on Saturday went outside to play basketball with his friends and later went shopping for a birthday present for his girlfriend, who had also tested positive, it said.

His activities were discovered after he posted about them on Instagram and an unidentified person shared the screenshots with authorities.

After being notified, police and health officials visited the man’s home on Sunday and confirmed that he had breached quarantine, which he initially denied.

He was taken by police to spend the rest of his quarantine at a government-run center.

The man had deliberately left his smartphone at home to avoid the “electronic fence” designed to monitor the location of quarantined people, the department said.

It did not clarify whether he had gone outside with a separate phone or had used a friend’s phone to make the posts.

The man’s actions of breaking quarantine, leaving his phone behind and posting his activities online are in contravention of Article 13 of the Special Act for Prevention, Relief and Revitalization Measures for Severe Pneumonia with Novel Pathogens （嚴重特殊傳染性肺炎防治及紓困振興特別條例規定） and is punishable with a fine of NT$1.5 million, the heaviest fine issued by the city since the pandemic began, the department said.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES