Taiwan navy under fire for letting sailors infected with coronavirus into community

Navy presented ship records to lawmakers inquiring about sailor health during mission, only to change the records hours later

Tainan mayor regrets that the navy are ‘a loophole in our anti-pandemic efforts’

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Taiwan Navy's 'Friendly Fleet' is welcomed home at Zoying Naval Base in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan on April 15. On 18 April, Taiwan's health ministry reported that three naval cadets were infected with the novel coronavirus disease during a visit to Palau. Photo: Handout

Published: 5:04pm, 21 Apr 2020Updated: 11:35pm, 21 Apr 2020

Taiwan’s navy has come under fire over its handling of a cluster coronavirus infection that has hit one of its naval ships and could seriously damage the island’s efforts to contain the outbreak.

At least 27 of the 377 military personnel aboard the Panshih fast combat support ship have been confirmed as infected with the coronavirus in the first cases of the pandemic to hit the self-ruled island’s military.

The Panshih was part of a three-ship flotilla assigned by the navy to a friendship port call to the Pacific island state of Palau – one of Taiwan’s 15 allies – between March 5 and April 9.

Critics said that after completing the mission and quarantine, the officers and sailors visited at least 90 places in more than 10 cities and counties throughout Taiwan before being recalled for testing on Saturday.

Soldiers from Taiwan’s military disinfect the Panshih supply ship at Zuoying Naval Base after navy personnel tested positive for coronavirus. Photo: Handout

The ships stopped at Palau from March 12 to 15 for the military’s annual goodwill and midshipmen training mission. The Panshih returned to its home port in Zuoying district in Kaohsiung on April 9, but personnel on the vessel – including cadets and naval students – could not disembark until April 15 because of the local quarantine requirement.

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