Tokyo shops limit cold medicine purchases as Chinese buyers empty stocks amid Covid-19 wave

Dispensaries in Tokyo are running low on cold antidotes as customers from China snap up supplies
A wave of infections is spreading across China after it abruptly abandoned its zero-Covid policy, triggering shortages of fever drugs

Japan

SCMP’s Asia desk

Published: 8:00pm, 26 Dec, 2022

Why you can trust SCMP

Pharmacies in Tokyo are imposing a purchase limit on cold medicines as customers from China have snapped up supplies amid a shortage of drugs following a spike in Covid-19 infections there.

Dispensaries in the Japanese capital say they are running low on cold antidotes, including the popular variety Pabron Gold A, because of depleting stocks.

Customers cannot buy more than one box at some shops, where they also have to present an empty carton from the shelf to the register to get the medication.

02:27

Inside an overcrowded Beijing hospital struggling with Covid surge in China

A woman from eastern China’s Anhui province, who was on a business trip to Japan, told the Asahi newspaper that she had stocked up on boxes of drugs after scouring Chinese social media to see what was in demand in her country.

She spent about 20,000 yen (US$150) on dozens of packs of cold medicine and painkillers.

The visitor went to drug stores during her free time and bought therapeutics for relatives and friends, adding she had procured about 40 boxes of medicine so far this month. “I think half of my suitcase will be taken up by medicine when I return to China,” she said.

Places like Singapore and Taiwan have also seen similar trends, with customers bulk-buying fever and pain relief medications to be shipped to China, forcing pharmacies to roll out measures to curb the practice.

‘Extraordinary times’: Chinese in Singapore send medicine home amid Covid wave

A wave of infections is spreading across China after the government abruptly abandoned its zero-Covid policy, triggering shortages of fever drugs and overwhelming hospitals and crematoriums.

A representative of a pharmacy chain said though Japanese were also emptying store shelves, there had been a visible rise this month of buyers reportedly from China stockpiling as many boxes of cold medicine as they could.

“We are considering raising prices to avert a situation where people in need won’t be able to buy the medicine,” an official said, adding some shops ran out of products before the limits were announced.

The company that makes Pabron said its drug drew praise on Chinese social media platforms for the brand’s efficacy in easing Covid symptoms. It added Pabron’s production would be boosted to keep pace with demand.