隱匿新興傳染病資訊造成之損害賠償──以COVID-19為例

Damage Claim for Deceiving Information on Emerging Infectious Diseases: Take COVID-19 as an Example

"2019年12月於中國湖北省的武漢市，發現不明病源的群聚性肺炎病例，疫情初期個案多與武漢華南海鮮市場活動史有關；然中國政府遲至2020年1月9日，才公布其病原體可能為新型的冠狀病毒株，期間至少超過14天對外界均稱無新型肺炎群聚事件。疫情隨後迅速在中國其他省與世界各國擴散，且被證實可有效人傳人。世界衛生組織（World Health Organization, WHO）遂於2020年1月30日公布此為一公共衛生緊急事件（Public Health Emergency of International Concern, PHEIC），2020年2月11日將此新型冠狀病毒造成的疾病命名為COVID-19（Coronavirus Disease-2019）。個案臨床表現主要為發熱，少數病人呼吸困難，胸部X光片呈雙肺浸潤性病灶。新冠肺炎疫情蔓延全球，各國的經濟和生活都大受影響，不少國家的民間團體都提出集體訴訟，準備控告中國隱匿疫情，要求經濟及健康的損害賠償。"

In December 2019, a cluster of pneumonia cases of unknown origin were found in Wuhan, Hubei, China. The initial cases of the epidemic were mostly related to the history of Wuhan Huanan seafood market activities; however, the Chinese government did not announce the pathogen until January 9, 2020. It may be a new coronavirus, and it is said to the outside world that there was no new type of pneumonia clustering event for at least 14 days. The epidemic quickly spread to other provinces in China and other countries in the world, and it was confirmed that it could effectively spread from person to person. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared this as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on January 30, 2020. The disease was caused by the new coronavirus. On February 11, 2020 It was named COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease-2019). The clinical manifestations of the case were mainly fever, a small number of patients had difficulty breathing, and the chest X-ray showed infiltrating lesions in both lungs. The newly pneumonia epidemic has spread globally, and the economy and life of various countries have been greatly affected. Civil organizations in many countries have filed class actions to sue China for hiding the epidemic and demand compensation for economic and health damages.