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A New Zealand pilot suspected of bringing Covid-19 to Taiwan was fired for not following the correct coronavirus protocols.
The community case was Taiwan’s first in more than 250 days.
The EVA Airways disciplinary committee ruled that the man should terminate his contract, effective immediately, for violations that included failing to accurately record and correctly report all of his contacts and movements, and not wearing a face cover in the cabin, Reuters reported.
The committee decided that these failures clearly showed that the pilot had violated Taiwan’s communicable disease transmission law.
An Rong Xu / Getty Images
The pilot’s actions have angered Taiwanese, which has been hailed as a success story in responding to the pandemic.
“EVA Air has always complied with the government’s epidemic prevention policies, and most of the crew members also followed the epidemic prevention regulations,” it said, according to Reuters.
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“However, the behavior of an individual employee has undermined everyone’s efforts to prevent epidemics.”
The New Zealand man, in his 60s, lives in Taiwan and tested positive for coronavirus on December 20 after experiencing symptoms while traveling on a cargo flight to the U.S. Two people who flew with the pilot also tested positive. .
The new community case, a 30-year-old woman, was a friend of his and was confirmed to have caught Covid in Taiwan, the country’s Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said on Tuesday.
Andrew Gorrie / Stuff
The community case of Covid-19 has sparked outrage.
170 contacts of the newly infected woman had tested negative for the virus and three others were still awaiting their results.
The man’s actions have angered the public in Taiwan, which has been singled out as a success story in responding to the pandemic. A television station called the anonymous man a “public enemy.”
The Taiwan Center for Disease Control last reported a national case on April 12, when the country had 553 Covid-19 cases and seven deaths.
The pilot in question is believed to be being treated for the virus at a hospital.
