TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Novotel hotel at the center of a domestic coronavirus cluster was fined NT$1.27 million (US$45,660) for violating basic quarantine rules, reports said Saturday (May 8).

A total of 31 COVID cases have been related to the Novotel Taipei Taoyuan International Airport, mostly involving China Airlines (CAL) pilots and hotel staff.

The health department of Taoyuan City, where the hotel is located, has determined that the business had not applied to become a quarantine hotel and that it had hosted both travelers and quarantined pilots — a violation of the rules, CNA reported.

The hotel has been fined NT$6,000 per day for 211 days, a total of nearly NT$1.27 million, officials said. It was only after the discovery of an infection, and an evacuation on April 29, that the illegal practices came to an end.

The Ministry of Transportation’s Tourism Bureau had previously fined the Novotel NT$150,000 for related cases, while the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) fined CAL NT$1 million.