Masks and hand sanitizer sell out as virus outbreak grips China
INTERNATIONAL – The deadly virus spreading across China has spurred a run on protective face masks and hand sanitizer, with store shelves stripped and re-sellers hawking the items for inflated prices.
In one Shanghai mall, customers lined up for nearly an hour at a drugstore Wednesday waiting for a shipment of 100 boxes of masks to arrive. They sold out within 30 minutes, said pharmacist Duan Yueqi, even after the store limited each person to one pack each. Staffers told customers immediately upon entry: “everything is gone.”
With the number of reported infections from the new SARS-like virus climbing to 440 across 13 of China’s provinces, and concern the tally could rise, the streets and subways of major Chinese cities have become a sea of masks. Hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens are preparing to travel for the Lunar New Year holiday period, which starts on Friday, and the government said Wednesday it is starting a nationwide screening program and implementing controls at transportation links.
Source: iol.co.za