Su Tseng-chang Must Quickly Close the Loophole that Worries Epidemic Control Police

 Su Tseng-chang Must Quickly Close the Loophole that Worries Epidemic Control Police

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

January 30, 2020

 Translation of an Excerpt

The Wuhan pneumonia has rapidly escalated; in Mainland China, confirmed cases reached 6,000, with more than 130 fatalities. In Taiwan, the first cases of an indigenous incidence was the result of intra-family contagion brought by the wife to the husband, making the number of confirmed cases reach eight. As the speed of the epidemic expansion exceeded the imagination, the World Health Organization has publicly admitted mistakes and reclassified the novel virus as "high risk." For this, following the evacuation of expatriates from Wuhan by the United States and Japan, Germany, France, South Korea and other countries have also initiated plans for the evacuation of their citizens.

A frontline epidemic control police officer recently wrote to Premier Su Tseng-chang, stating that the "program for autonomous reporting" designed by the government for homecoming passengers was useless. He said some with serious coughing claimed to have no symptoms. Some concealed the travel CV that they had been to Wuhan, some even deliberately coughed in front of the epidemic prevention police officers. To this, Su Tseng-chang responded by saying that he would "handle the matter seriously". The worries of this police officer were not aimless; if people deliberately conceal their symptoms, the government could not effectively stop the virus at the front line, then the prevention and control within the borders would be half-baked with double efforts. With regard to the misgivings of the epidemic control police officer, Su Tseng-chang must ponder carefully how to close the loophole.

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