TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taipei pedestrians panicked at the sight of a pandemic prevention personnel vehicle parked outside a quarantine hotel on Tuesday morning (Dec. 21), believing it signaled a local case of COVID-19 had been found at the site.

A handful of personnel kitted out in PPE gear hopped out of the vehicle at around 8 a.m. this morning on Xinyi Road in Daan District, according to a CNA report. The workers were soon seen leading a lone figure into the vehicle, sparking fear among onlookers that the virus had struck at the hotel.

Taipei City Government officials soon said that this was simply a testing vehicle and that the anti-pandemic team was there to conduct a final PCR test before a couple of individuals could be released from quarantine. The individuals being tested were actually undergoing home quarantine; the vehicle just happened to be parked outside a nearby quarantine hotel.

The city government was quick to point out there have been no media reports of anti-pandemic vehicles taking people away while they were quarantining at home. The city government requested that the public stay calm and not panic about potential new outbreaks.