KUCHING: Fears over the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus have triggered a sudden surge in the sales of surgical face masks in town.
Several visits to pharmacies at Jalan Song and Simpang Tiga, for example, revealed a drastic rush not only for surgical masks, but also hand sanitisers.
A pharmacist, Nandini, said that the stock of N95 face masks was low. Fortunately, more masks will arrive tomorrow (Friday).
“It has turned out that many consumers prefer to buy the N95 face masks in boxes instead of piece by piece. However, we restrict buyers from buying the boxes because we need to ensure that there are enough masks for everyone,” she explained, adding that each packet contains 10 masks.
As for hand sanitisers, they have been selling fast over the past two weeks, Nandini revealed, adding that the rush for the products showed that the public were aware of the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus.
Another pharmacist at Simpang Tiga stressed that taking preventive action was a wise move.
“Taking care of personal hygiene is very important,” she said.
