New Delhi/Taipei (NVI): Taiwan, which is making strident efforts to fight coronavirus, has earmarked a special fund to the tune of $1.99 billion to contain the deadly disease and deal with its impact on the economy.
The special budget was approved by Taiwan’s legislature with an overwhelming support from lawmakers.
Prime Minister Su Tseng-chang told lawmakers that the budget is aimed at creating quick effects, spread benefits to as many industries as possible, push for infrastructure and eventually strengthen the economy.
According to the approved bill, the special budget will be effective from January 15, 2020 and run through June 30, 2021.
The fund will be spent on transforming hospitals into isolation venues, establishing quarantine and testing venues for the virus, requisitioning medical materials and allocating funds as subsidies for schools and the transportation industry to battle the virus contagion.
The government will also subsidize a wide range of industrial sectors that have been hit by the COVID-19 spread. These sectors include service industry, the manufacturing industry, the tourism industry, the transportation industry, the agriculture/fishing industry, and the arts/cultural industry.
The government will also pay compensation to the people who are in mandatory quarantine and home isolation or who have to take unpaid family care leave to take care of family members who are in quarantine or home isolation without self-care ability, such as children under the age of 12.
In addition, the government will give vouchers for local consumers to spend in restaurants, retail shops, night markets and traditional markets, besides art and cultural events.
