Regrettably, even as the country was getting tough on domestic quarantine, in mid-May a doctor from Mackay Memorial Hospital caused an international incident when he showed SARS symptoms while in Japan. Assuming that he only had the flu, he took some cold medicine and finished his travel itinerary, only later discovering that one of the patients he treated in hospital later died as a probable SARS victim.
遺憾的是，當國內全力防堵疫情漏洞時，五月中旬，一位馬偕醫院醫師休假赴日本旅遊時出現發燒症狀，他以為自己只是感冒，服用退燒藥後還繼續遊完全程，之後才發現自己接觸的病人中，有人已因疑似 SARS 而病亡。