Sharjah24 – Reuters: Taiwanese cities are tightening restrictions on access to public venues like gyms and libraries after a rare rise in domestic COVID-19 infections that has spooked the stock market and unnerved the island.
Early and effective prevention steps, including largely closing its borders, succeeded in shielding Taiwan from the worst of the pandemic. It has reported just 1,231 infections so far.
But markets and the government have been on edge since renewed domestic outbreaks began late last month, with 16 new domestic cases announced on Wednesday setting a record daily high.
The benchmark index fell around 3% on Thursday morning, though also tracking losses in the United States overnight.
New Taipei City, which surrounds the capital Taipei and where some of the new cases have been reported, has ordered libraries and internet cafes closed, while Taipei has ordered a limit of 100 people at a time in gyms.
The government, which has a robust contact tracing and quarantine system, is racing to locate the source of some of the local infections, concentrated in densely populated northern Taiwan.
The central government has already suspended mass gatherings of more than 100 people inside and 500 people outside until next month, and warned it may take further steps that could close non-essential businesses.
Taiwan has never gone into a complete lockdown.
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