Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday approved proposed items in a NT$60 billion (US$2 billion) budget created under the Special Act on COVID-19 Prevention, Relief and Restoration (嚴重特殊傳染性肺炎防治及紓困振興特別條例) passed on Tuesday, including compensation totaling NT$1.82 billion for people placed in quarantine and those who need to take leave to care for quarantined family members.
The special budget would be sourced in equal portions from surplus revenue from previous fiscal years and loans, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) told a news conference in Taipei.
Disease prevention, which accounts for NT$19.6 billion of the budget, would cover the costs of hospitals isolating people being screened for COVID-19; compensation to hospitals that are forced to suspend operations due to confirmed cases or as a result of receiving patients who test positive for the disease; the procurement or expropriation of resources necessary for disease prevention; general disease-prevention work; and the compensation for people quarantined or taking care of quarantined family members.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Ho Chi-kung (何啟功) said that the NT$1.82 billion sum was determined by multiplying daily compensation of NT$1,000 per person by the estimated 130,000 recipients over the course of 14 days during which compensation would be paid.
However, people who are paid by their employers while under quarantine or on leave would not be eligible for the compensation, he added.
The actual amount of daily compensation per person would be determined on March 10, as the act stipulates that agencies must introduce accompanying regulations within two weeks of its passage, but it would not fall below the minimum daily wage of NT$800, Ho said.
As the compensation aims to make up for the personal freedom sacrificed for disease prevention, minors who are quarantined at home, as well as their parents on leave to take care of them, would also be eligible to receive compensation, he added.
Should the number of people eligible for the compensation exceed 130,000, additional redress would be paid out from the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s budget for grants and subsidies, which totals NT$9.2 billion for the current fiscal year, DGBAS Minister Chu Tzer-ming (朱澤民) said, reassuring the public that all eligible applicants would receive compensation.
The items earmarked to bail out sectors affected by the coronavirus make up the remaining NT$40.4 billion of the budget, including recovery plans for tourism (NT$5.4 billion); compensation to hoteliers (NT$1.5 billion); subsidies to airlines and airports (NT$4.29 billion); coupons to be issued by the Ministry of Economic Affairs to spur domestic spending (NT$2 billion); and subsidies to the cultural and creative sectors (NT$800 million), the DGBAS said.
The Ministry of Culture has proposed setting aside NT$300 million from its budgeted NT$800 million to subsidize performance and exhibition venues whose business has suffered due to the virus, Chu said, adding that it would determine before March 10 how much would be set aside for coupons, which would also be redeemable at performance and exhibition venues.
The proposed budget is to be sent to the Legislative Yuan for review.
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