Shanghai ramps up face mask production as supplies run out amid coronavirus scare
- Manufacturers as well as the government have had to make arrangements for raw materials and manpower because of the Lunar New Year holiday
- Face masks are cherished by people ‘as something more expensive than gold’, resident says
When Yu Husheng, a retired engineer, arrived at a pharmacy in Shanghai’s Xuhui district at 6am on Thursday to buy face masks for his family, he found more than 100 people were already in line ahead of him.
The 78-year-old said he was willing to go to great lengths to get the masks, even if it meant less sleep. “I feel that face masks are now cherished by people as something more expensive than gold,” he said.
A deadly coronavirus that originated in the central Chinese city of Wuhan has killed more than 200 people, with reports of more than 9,600 infections across the country.
Yu said he needed at least 30 face masks for his family of six, as he only had 10 at hand. Shanghai has limited the purchase of face masks to 10 a day for each buyer.
The masks, sold for 0.46 yuan (6.6 US cents) a piece, can cost as much as 5 yuan each on the black market, as panic spreads. “I offered to pay 10 times their retail price on WeChat, but none of my friends have extra masks to sell,” said Li Yan, 42, a designer at a local advertising company. “The government should step in and help people obtain face masks.”
About 128 cases of the illness and one death had been reported in Shanghai by Friday afternoon.