Focus Taiwan
Date: 02/03/2020
By: Ku Chuan and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Feb. 3 (CNA) Faced with continued shortages of surgical masks amid fears of the spread of the coronavirus epidemic, Taiwan's government will soon institute a registration system to ration the supply of masks to two per person per week.

Under the system, Taiwanese residents will have to present their national health insurance (NHI) cards to buy face masks at more than 6,000 NHI contracted drugstores or pharmacies, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced Monday.

The policy, set to begin Feb. 6, will allow each person to buy two masks a week at a price of NT$5 per mask, and once an individual makes a purchase, it will be recorded to prevent the same person from buying other masks the same week.

The government began requisitioning the 4 million surgical masks produced by domestic manufacturers every day on Jan. 31, with 2.6 million masks distributed to consumers and 1.4 million channeled to medical workers and people involved in prevention efforts.    [FULL  STORY]