KUCHING: People are flocking to pharmacies seeking face masks in hopes of boosting their protection against the coronavirus outbreak.
As such, pharmacies are experiencing rapidly depleting stocks of face masks, if they have not already completely run out yet.
A local pharmacy, Shine Pharmacy, has no choice but to limit the number of face masks sold per customer.
Christina Wong, a pharmacist at Shine Pharmacy, told New Sarawak Tribune yesterday that each customer was limited to ten face masks.
“Initially, we were selling by the box, but now we have to take this measure in order to provide for more customers – especially those who are unwell or need to travel,” she said.
She said that stocks were running low and they were unsure when more face masks would be available, though suppliers have assured there would be available stock in the second or third week of February.
“We did order more, but there is simply no supply in the market. If there was a consistent supply, we would not have to restrict how many face masks each customer can purchase,” said Wong.
According to her, the lengthy queues for face masks had started before the Chinese New Year period and it had escalated, especially following news of coronavirus outbreak in Johor.
She said that suppliers had upped the price of face masks, causing the pharmacy to have little option but to increase the price as well. However, they were still within the government’s regulated price threshold.
“We are selling face masks at 80 sen per piece,” she said.
Wong said that the public should not panic too much but should maintain personal hygiene.
“Proper hand-wash hygiene with soap and water should be good enough, rather than just depending on hand sanitizer,” she remarked.
She said that individuals should stay indoors if it was unnecessary to go out, and crowded places and hospitals should be avoided if possible.
“However, if one has symptoms, they should immediately go to the hospital,” she urged. She pointed out that there could be no symptoms for coronavirus for two to three weeks.
“Do self-quarantine yourself if you have just come back from overseas, especially China, to try to prevent this from spreading,” Wong advised.
