Kaohsiung City Mayor Han Kuo-yu said in a press conference that 24 of the 350 sailors from the Navy's Friendship Flotilla who live in Kaohsiung have been unwilling to cooperate with disease prevention efforts, and that they will be fined if they continue to refuse to cooperate.


Workers wearing protective gear disinfect Kaohsiung's Guomao community, because sailors from the Navy's Friendship Flotilla infected with COVID-19 had been present in this area. A total of 350 sailors from the Friendship Flotilla live in Kaohsiung, and the city is currently trying to carry out disease prevention efforts. However, 24 of them are refusing to cooperate.

In my capacity as the commander of Kaohsiung's epidemic control command, I would like to inform the 24 Navy officers and men that they will be fined if they refuse to cooperate with disease prevention measures. They have until 5 p.m. today.

The majority of them gave the reason that their mission was somewhat sensitive and their superiors did not tell them that they could make it public.

Fines of between NT$60,000 and NT$300,000 are permissible under the Communicable Disease Control Act. Kaohsiung City Mayor Han Kuo-yu also announced that all 4,000 of the city's frontline medical personnel will be screened for COVID-19 to ensure that they will be able to continue with their work and not have to live with uncertainty or fear.

The city government is in a tight financial situation, but we are willing to raise financial resources to help Kaohsiung's medical personnel, those who work on the frontline. That's why we hope to carry out screenings for them after we finish raising the financial resources.

Han said the epidemic situation is becoming more serious with each passing day, and efforts must be made to maintain public security. The postponed Lunar New Year public safety drills will be resumed, and exercises to prepare for the possibility of a cluster infection scheduled for May 3 will go ahead as planned to show the city's determination to effectively carry out disease prevention.



穿上隔離衣，全副武裝在染疫官兵曾經出現的高雄果貿社區，進行大規模消毒，高雄市政府為防堵防疫破口，針對敦睦艦隊中，居住在高雄的350位士官兵，進行疫調，但現在仍有24人不願配合。

高雄市長 韓國瑜表示：「身為高雄市整個疫情指揮官角色，在這裡提出鄭重呼籲，今天下午五點以前，如果這24位海軍官兵拒絕疫調，我們將正式開罰。」

高雄市衛生局簡任技正 潘炤穎表示：「以任務有一些機敏性，上級沒有交代說，可以對外公布，這部分(拒絕理由)居多。」

根據傳染病防治法，將可開罰六到三十萬元不等的罰鍰，而高雄市長韓國瑜也宣示將針對全市四千多位醫護人員進行全面篩檢，讓他們可以安心在第一線執行工作，不用活在不確定及恐懼中。

高雄市長 韓國瑜表示：「市政府的財政非常困難，但是我們願意籌措財源，來幫助高雄市這些醫護朋友，第一線的工作夥伴，那所以我們籌措財源完畢之後，希望能幫他們做好檢查的工作。」

市長韓國瑜表示疫情日益嚴峻，治安也亮起紅燈，要恢復春安演練外，五月三號的兵推演練也勢在必行，要向外界宣示防疫決心。