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(Adds Taiwan president comments)
TAIPEI, May 13 (Reuters) - Taiwan's government proposed on
Thursday an extra T$210 billion ($7.5 billion) in spending to
help the economy deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, as it reported
13 new domestic cases amid a rare spike in infections that has
spooked the stock market.
Early and effective prevention steps, including largely
closing its borders, succeeded in shielding Taiwan from the
worst of the pandemic. The island of 24 million people has
reported just 1,256 infections so far, most of them imported.
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 stock index fell 1.5% on Thursday,
though it also tracked losses in the United States overnight.
Chu Tzer-ming, head of the Directorate-General of Budget,
Accounting and Statistics, said they were proposing another
T$210 billion to add to previously announced stimulus spending
worth T$420 billion, which will need parliamentary approval.
"We will see how the pandemic develops and what each
department's needs are," he said.
The government has now identified the source of the new
domestic infections, linking them via DNA sequencing to an
earlier outbreak at an airport hotel and pilots at Taiwan's
largest carrier, China Airlines Ltd.
However, they do not know how the people in the latest
cluster got infected, and are stepping up contact tracing.
Speaking to reporters, President Tsai Ing-wen called for
calm.
"Fighting the pandemic is like fighting a war," she said.
"I'd like to urge people that as long as supplies are
sufficient, there's no need for panic buying," Tsai added,
describing people who have rushed to buy instant noodles and
toilet rolls this week as "worrying too much".
The government will work to ensure the stability of the
financial markets, she said.
More vaccines are due to start arriving from overseas from
June, Tsai added.
Taiwan has millions of vaccines on order from Moderna Inc
and AstraZeneca Plc, though only a small number
of the latter's have arrived so far.
($1 = 27.9310 Taiwan dollars)
(Reporting by Jeanny Kao and Ben Blanchard; editing by Richard
Pullin and Gareth Jones)
