City's mask producers back in production
Local people, including foreigners, queue up to buy masks and medicines at the flagship store of the Lei Yun Shang pharmacy in Jing'an District.
The city’s mask producers are gradually resuming production to meet an increasing local demand in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, the Shanghai Commission of Commerce said today.
In recent days, nearly 10 million masks, 205,000 bottles of disinfectant and 84,000 bottles of liquid soap have been put on shelves of pharmacies, grocery stores and supermarkets.
With the city’s 17 mask plants all in operation, they will be able to make up to 4 million masks per day, according to the commission.
Among them is Shanghai Yuanqin Purifying Science and Technology Co Ltd. Production at the company’s plant in Qingcun Town in Fengxian District is in full swing with machines operating 24 hours a day.
Workers who had been on holiday were called back on January 19 and production resumed on January 21. “Every one of us is now working on the production lines to ensure that we can make 45,000 masks every day,” said general manager Heng Ronghua.
Medicom, another manufacturer in Songjiang District, resumed operation last Sunday. It is providing 500,000 to 800,000 masks a day. After all workers and machines are in operation, it can make up to a million a day.
Masks sell out quickly at local pharmacies.
Staff at the 350-year-old Lei Yun Shang pharmacy said it was depending on suppliers. After the city’s all mask producers are operating, the stress will be relieved.
“Sometimes even all of our outlets in Shanghai just have thousands of masks,” said the pharmacy’s Zheng Hong. “Every day we are seeking more suppliers.”
He added: “Every day, people line in queues to buy masks, including foreigners. But every one is only allowed to buy up to 10 masks. Also, we have to supply neighborhood officials and workers at the railway stations and bus stations at first.”
