Taiwan is facing major threats from a surge in coronavirus cases and drought-triggered power outages, potentially derailing one of Asia’s economic success stories this year.
The island has gone from zero local cases earlier this month to recording 1,226 domestic infections in the past five days alone and on Wednesday a soft lockdown was extended to the entire island. Schools were already closed, but the new rules mean masks are mandatory outdoors, with limits on social gatherings and the closure of many public facilities.
If cases remain high, Taiwan may be forced into a full lockdown, which would spread the pain from the retail sector to exports in an economy heavily reliant on trade. On top of that, a drought has left hydroelectric plants operating at limited capacity, contributing to power outages in major cities across the island, including locations where the world’s biggest computer chip businesses operate.
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