TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) head Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said on Thursday (April 14) that confirmed COVID cases who fail to register on Taiwan's contact tracing app could face punishment — but the center will try to use persuasion first.

Chen urged the public to download and use the Taiwan Social Distancing App (臺灣社交距離) to strengthen digital epidemic prevention. He stressed that it will only be effective if a large percentage of the population uses it.

Chen said the app is a mechanism that protects everyone from the virus. He said that as long as everyone that one comes in contact with has downloaded the app, the contact information is complete and the notification of contact with a confirmed case is far faster than the real-name registration system.

When asked if there are penalties for confirmed COVID cases who refuse to upload their data into the app, Chen said that it is mandatory for people diagnosed with COVID to upload their information to the app.

Chen said that at this stage, the center is trying to convince COVID cases to enter their information via phone calls. However, Chen made it clear that failing to cooperate and upload the relevant information into the app is a violation of the Communicable Disease Control Act (傳染病防治法) and penalties could be imposed, though he did not specify what those would be.