Two men fined $3,600 each for leaving quarantine for 1 minute

A pair of Indonesian fishermen have been fined NT$100,000 (US$3,610) each by Taiwanese health authorities for leaving their quarantine hotel rooms for just over a minute.

The men had arrived in Taiwan by plane on November 15, 2020 and checked into a quarantine facility. On the evening of November 22, they left their rooms to buy some food.

When they walked into a hotel lobby, staff told them to return to their rooms immediately, and the men complied. However, despite being absent from quarantine for just a little more than a minute, the fishermen were fined NT$100,000 ($3,610) by health authorities, Taiwanese media reported.

Since they failed to pay in time, officials announced on Monday that they owed NT$270,000 ($9,700) in fines and room fees. Their employer eventually paid the sum on behalf of the two men.

The island nation has some of the strictest quarantine rules in the world. It was reported in 2020 that a migrant worker from the Philippines was fined around US$3,500 for leaving his quarantine room in Kaohsiung for just eight seconds.

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