Man Fined $3,500 For Breaking Coronavirus Quarantine For 8 Seconds

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We all get tempted to break the rules every now and again, and often we can justify doing so by considering whether the repercussions would be worth it.

If you decide to eat the slice of cake your partner was saving, for example, you know that the enjoyment and satisfaction will probably outweigh the minor argument you’ll have when they get home.

When it comes to coronavirus rules, however, they’re just not worth breaking. They’re in place to protect us, and breaching them could not only put your life at risk, but land you with a hefty fine.

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One man learned that the hard way recently when he stepped out of the hotel room where he had been quarantining. He was out of the room for all of eight seconds, and while he might not have thought it would be an issue, the Department of Health disagreed.

The unnamed man, a migrant worker from the Philippines, was confined to his room in the hotel in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan, where rules state that people are not allowed to leave their rooms, no matter for how long.

The country has been widely praised for its approach to containing the outbreak as it never had to enact strict lockdowns or resort to drastic restrictions, as has been the case with other countries.

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Of course, the system only works if people follow the rules, so when hotel staff saw the man leave his room on CCTV, they were quick to contact the Department of Health.

According to Taiwan’s official Central News Agency (CNA), per CNN, the department fined the man 100,000 Taiwan dollars – around $3,500 – for his little venture.

It’s unclear what the man was doing in the hallway for the eight seconds – perhaps he just needed a change of scenery – but the Department of Health has stressed that people should know they will be fined for leaving their rooms.

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There are 56 quarantine hotels in Kaohsiung City, with a total of around 3,000 rooms for people to use.

Taiwan’s response to the coronavirus outbreak focused on speed as authorities began screening passengers on direct flights from Wuhan, where the virus was first identified, on December 31, 2019, before it was dubbed a global pandemic.

The government quickly invested in mass testing, as well as quick and effective contact tracing, and as a result the country has recorded just 716 coronavirus cases and seven deaths, according Johns Hopkins University.

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Man Fined $3,500 For Breaking Coronavirus Quarantine For 8 Seconds