Pharmacies selling out of masks, sanitisers
Pharmacies in Auckland say almost every customer is asking for hand sanitiser and face masks but there is ‘‘zero’’ stock to sell.
It comes after the first case of Covid-19 was confirmed in New Zealand.
The person, in their 60s, is in a stable condition in an isolation room in Auckland City Hospital.
On Saturday, Ministry of Health director-general Dr Ashley Bloomfield said the risk of a community outbreak remained low.
However, despite experts urging people to stay calm, supermarkets have been so busy with huge crowds of worried customers flocking to buy food and personal protective equipment that some have had to temporarily close.
Trade Me users have also taken advantage – listing items such as hand sanitiser and face masks for far more than they are usually sold for.
Pharmacies in the city say they are also feeling the demand.
A staff member at Life Pharmacy in Newmarket said the store had ‘‘zero’’ hand sanitisers and ‘‘zero’’ face masks.
It had about a dozen bottles of hand sanitiser last week but they sold out straight away, he said. Almost every customer was asking for one, if not both items, but they were having to be turned away.
The staff member said he did not know when the pharmacy would get stock in again.
A similar situation was happening at Unichem Pharmacy on Queen St. A staff member said it ran out of both items about a week ago.
People were coming in every day looking for the items, she said. When staff told them that the pharmacy didn’t have any, customers either asked where else they could find them or when replacement stock could be expected.
She said a lot of people who were travelling stocked up on face masks earlier on in the coronavirus outbreak.
On Trade Me, one user was selling a pack of two disposable masks for $100.
The same person was also offering the slightly cheaper deal of four masks for $100 in another online auction.
In total, the Trade Me user, who apparently lives in Wellington, had 15 auctions running for face masks on Saturday afternoon.
Another listing, for four 50-millilitre bottles of Dettol hand sanitiser – which usually cost $3.50 each at Kmart – had a starting price of $50. The auction for this item closed on Saturday afternoon, having not sold.
Bloomfield said that while masks could be effective to stop people spreading droplets, and therefore infection, if they sneezed or coughed, ‘‘they have to be put on correctly’’.
‘‘Often, people are fiddling with their masks. They then have an opportunity to get virus on their fingers and spread it other ways.’’
He confirmed that New Zealand was likely to see more ‘‘sporadic’’ cases of coronavirus.
On Friday, University of Otago’s Webster Family Chair in Viral Pathogenesis, Professor Miguel Quin˜ ones-Mateu, said the best way to stop the infection spreading was for people to wash their hands thoroughly with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. They should use hand sanitiser if soap and water weren’t available.