China’s virus outbreak triggers a global run on face masks
INTERNATIONAL – People across the globe are stockpiling facial masks to protect themselves from the new coronavirus, depleting online malls and store shelves from California to Beijing. Yet their efficacy against an outbreak that’s claimed more than 130 lives remains uncertain.
On Amazon and Alibaba, many shops peddling anti-virus masks had run out of stock as of Wednesday. Across China, Hong Kong and Singapore, people lined up for hours at stores and pharmacies hoping to secure dwindling supplies. People from San Francisco to Orlando said they were unable to find surgical masks at their usual outlets.
While the rush is global, Chinese people living abroad have been buying masks — especially the popular N95 variant made by 3M Co. — to send back to family members or resell them online, often via Tencent’s WeChat messaging app. Demand is only likely to increase — even though doubts have surfaced among the medical community about their effectiveness in curbing the disease, which some doctors say can spread through physical contact. The coronavirus, which first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, has infected more than 6,000 — more than the 5,327 cases officially reported in China during the SARS epidemic of 17 years ago.
Source: iol.co.za
