Mask purchase registration kicks off as city looks to ensure supply
REGISTRATIONS to purchase masks began yesterday among Shanghai’s 6,000-odd neighborhood and village committees.
The plan seeks to prevent long queues forming outside pharmacies. Each household is allowed to make only one registration and buy five masks at designated pharmacies on a first-come, first-served basis.
The first round of registration runs through February 11.
More than 2.17 million households across Shanghai, or 26.25 percent of the city’s permanent population households, had finished registration as of 5pm yesterday.
It is expected that all households with mask purchase demand in the city can have their demand registered within four days, the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau said.
Spacious, well-ventilated and isolated places are being picked as registration spots.
Some neighborhood and village committees used online or telephone channels for registration and neighborhood and village committee staff helped seniors, isolated residents and disabled finish their registration at home, the bureau said.
At 8:30am in the Hetai Garden residential area in downtown Jing’an District, there was hardly anyone at the designated registration spot.
“This spot is in Hetai Garden, but people living in the nearby Jiaju Building can also register. Staff will check the temperature of people from Jiaju as well as their identities before they are allowed into Hetai,” said Chen Yunchen, head of the neighborhood committee.
At the registration spot committee workers check people’s temperatures and ID, such as ID cards or household registers. After verification, residents receive purchase vouchers with an order number, pharmacy address and a stamp of the committee from another desk.
The committee has taken steps to prevent overcrowding during registration.
“We asked people to register during off-peak hours and have chosen a spacious and wellventilated waiting area on the ground floor,” said Chen.
“If too many people come, we will consider online registration, too,” said Zhang Lizhen, a committee member.
After receiving purchase tickets people wait for a call to notify them to go to the pharmacy and get their masks.
Chen, an 80-year-old woman, told Shanghai Daily, “I totally agree with the idea of the registration because it is much more convenient than going to buy masks in pharmacies. And the registration process only took
me two minutes.
“And there are not many people here. If it had been crowded, I would just have gone back home.”
A similar scene unfolded in Yuyuan Road, also in Jing’an District, where, at 7:30am yesterday, officials from Siming neighborhood committee put up tables and chairs as they prepared for registration. About 10 residents had already arrived.
Zhang Haiyan, head of the neighborhood committee, said: “At 10am every day, the pharmacy will tell us how many masks will be available and we will call those on the list to take their masks. If they don’t pick
up the phone, someone will visit them.”
Siming is one of the most dynamic old neighborhoods in Shanghai. Its 1930s Spanishstyle villas are home to about 1,500 families. Many residents are aged over 60, around 200 of whom live alone.
The Shimen No. 2 Road Subdistrict already allows residents to register online via WeChat account or walk to register in person.
Online appointment started at 8:30am yesterday and within five minutes, more than 200 families registered. Around 2,000 registrations were made in the first two and half hours.
The Linfen Road Subdistrict has a mini program on WeChat, allowing residents to register by scanning QR code. Within five minutes, 1,200 had scanned the code.
Designated pharmacies will send the masks to the neighborhoods, and thus residents can buy them on their doorsteps.
For the senior citizens and disabled residents, neighbors are helping out.
“Elders living alone, especially the bed-ridden, need extra help,” resident Zhou said.
Two other residents, Ni and Zhang, know sign language and have helped deaf residents to make appointments.