Taiwan’s Cabinet has asked the Legislature to approve a one-year extension of the special COVID-19 relief act and its associated budget through June 30 of next year, Cabinet spokesman Lo Ping-cheng (???) said Sunday.

A written request was sent to the Legislature on Friday to extend the Special Act for Prevention, Relief and Revitalization Measures for Severe Pneumonia with Novel Pathogens, which is set to expire on June 30, Lo said in a statement released to the press.

Lo said the extension was necessary to prevent a “sudden disruption” of the government’s COVID-19 response efforts, given the continued severity of the pandemic abroad and the rapidly-changing situation within Taiwan.

The request does not seek any additional funding above the currently allocated NT$839.34 billion (US$28.78 billion) budget, as around NT$130 billion from it has yet to be spent, he added.

The special act was introduced in February 2020 to provide a legal basis and funding — initially set at NT$60 billion — to support the government’s COVID-19 control efforts. It was later expanded to include a wide array of economic relief measures.

The act was most recently amended last May, when lawmakers agreed to extend the law by one year and double its budget cap from NT$420 billion to NT$840 billion.

The requested extension comes as Taiwan reported a record daily high of 1,210 domestic COVID-19 cases Sunday, though only 0.51 percent of all domestic COVID-19 cases this year have been moderate or severe, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) data.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel