Fri, Jan 31, 2020 page5

• Virus Fears: Long lines, empty shelves in HK

  ANGER AT GOVERNMENT: Hong Kongers said they were upset the government had not closed its borders to mainlanders and that masks were in short supply

  • AFP, HONG KONG
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  Long lines form at pharmacies and crowds of panic-buyers strip supermarket shelves in Hong Kong as fears spread through the crowded territory over China’s new coronavirus epidemic.

  As a territory that lost nearly 300 people to the SARS virus in 2003, Hong Kongers are taking few chances over the latest disease outbreak that began in central China and has since spread.

  Usually clogged streets have been uncharacteristically quiet, with light traffic and crowds over the Lunar New Year holiday.

  

  People wait in lines outside a pharmacy selling masks in Hong Kong yesterday.

  Photo: AFP

  However, the one place Hong Kongers are still willing to gather in sizeable numbers is outside their local pharmacies, hoping to snap up rapidly diminishing supplies of surgical face masks.

  In the middle-class district of Tseung Kwan O, hundreds of people yesterday patiently lined up for hours to buy masks at a pharmacy that, like many outlets, was now limiting sales to one box per person.

  “No matter how long this queue takes and how much it costs, I will at least buy enough for myself,” a 26-year-old woman, who gave her surname as Tam, said.

  Like many in the line, she was angry at local authorities.

  “I’m not satisfied with what the government is doing to prevent the epidemic. It doesn’t close the border to mainlanders, and there is a lack of the supplies for masks in the market,” she added.

  Hong Kong has resisted public pressure to close its border with the Chinese mainland, although it has shuttered some crossings.

  A 17-year-old student, who gave her first name Michelle, said she had waited for more than an hour to get a box of masks.

  “I hope this will be enough for a month. If I don’t have enough masks, I might need to stay at home and can’t go to school,” she said.

  The South China Morning Post reported that some people camped out overnight after Watsons, one of the territory’s largest pharmacy chains, said a limited supply of face masks would be sold yesterday.

  Angry customers argued with staff outside some stores when supplies ran out, the paper reported.

  Supermarkets have also seen their shelves cleared in some districts.

  “I bought a bag of rice and some canned food, too,” a 60-year-old retiree surnamed Sin said. “I am trying to avoid gathering with friends and reduce the amount of time to dine in at restaurants.”

  Hong Kong’s government said it was “striving to procure more surgical masks to cope with the epidemic,” adding it had contacted 140 suppliers in 10 countries.

  It added that the “supply of surgical masks in the market would still be tight in the near future.”

  The territory’s Customs Department said it had also launched an operation to weed out counterfeit masks that did not comply with international safety standards.
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