Coronavirus Cases Jump By Record

Taiwan dollar is weaker in early trade, USD/TWD last up 0.061 at 28.057, making its way back over the 28.00 handle. The Taiex is once again under pressure, down around 2.2% in early trade. Over the weekend authorities announce the tightest restrictions of the pandemic after recording a record 206 virus cases on Sunday, it follows a soft lockdown already announced in Taipei. The government has asked companies t allow staff to work from home, and have limited the size of gatherings and shut many facilities across the country. There are local reports that a full scale lockdown could be implemented if local infections average 100 or more for 14 days. The outbreak puts the government vaccination programme under scrutiny, only 315k doses have been delivered to Taiwan so far.