TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The girlfriend of a New Taipei teen who was fined NT$1.5 million (US$52,500) for playing basketball while undergoing home isolation faces up to NT$1 million in fines for mentioning on Instagram that she had taken out the trash while in isolation.

On Sunday (April 17), New Taipei’s Department of Health announced that an 18-year-old male resident of Sanxia District who tested positive for COVID would be fined for stepping out to play basketball and buying his girlfriend birthday gifts. The next day, the health department stated that it had become aware that his girlfriend had uploaded a post on Instagram possibly indicating that she had violated the terms of her home isolation.

In an Instagram post responding to the news of her boyfriend's isolation violation, the woman, who has also tested positive for COVID, wrote "Fortunately, I didn't go out, at most I took out the garbage." The health department was informed of the post and commenced an investigation.

Investigators soon found that she is in fact a resident of Taipei City and notified the city's health department. In response to the news, Taipei City Deputy Mayor Tsai Ping-kun (蔡炳坤) on Tuesday morning (April 19) told the media that if she was found to have violated the Communicable Disease Control Act (傳染病防治法), she will face fines of between NT$200,000 and NT$1 million.