Taiwan warns on rising COVID-19 risk, share market tumbles
By Yimou Lee and Ben Blanchard
Reuters
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan may raise its COVID-19 alert level in the coming days , Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said on Wednesday, warning of an extremely serious situation that sent the island s stock market tanking.
On Tuesday, Taiwan announced plans to restrict public gatherings as a result of a cluster of six new cases with no clear infection source, an unusual outbreak for the island that had kept a tight lid on community outbreaks.
Describing the situation as very serious , Chen told parliament the level could be lifted a notch to three, limiting gatherings to five people indoors and 10 outdoors, as well as closing of non-essential businesses.
The TAIEX yesterday sank by 680.76 points, or 4.11 percent, to close at 15,902.37 points, the second-
largest one-day drop after a fall of 696 points on Jan. 30 last year, amid concern over the rising number of local COVID-19 infections, analysts said.
The weighted index, which closed at 16,583.13 points on Tuesday, opened down and lost 300 points in the first 15 minutes of trading, before climbing to 16,550 points at 9:46am, Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) data showed.
However, it lost its footing again, plunging 1,400 points to 15,165.27 points at 11:25am. That represented a drop of 9 percent the largest