Macau's Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced today that its second round of the sale of facemasks at fixed prices to local residents and non-resident workers will start on Sunday.
According to the measure, which was launched by the government last week, all permanent and non-permanent residents as well as non-resident workers have the right to buy 10 facemasks at a fixed price from 56 designated pharmacies and 10 public health centres every 10 days. Buyers need to present their ID cards or work permit (informally known as "blue cards") to buy the 10 masks for 8 patacas (US$1). Each purchase is registered in the authorities' centralised computer system.
However, anyone in Macau - locals and tourists - can also buy facemask from non-designated pharmacies and other shops at market prices. Residents have told The Macau Post Daily that they bought their facemasks for a range of prices, such as for two to three patacas per piece from the pharmacies and other shops not covered by the government measures.
The government announced last week that it would buy 20 million facemasks. Macau has a population of nearly 680,000, which includes about 190,000 non-resident workers, about two-thirds of them from the Chinese mainland. The government announced earlier this week that it sent 50,000 facemask to hospitals in the adjacent city of Zhuhai that had ran out of facemasks.
Unlike in Hong Kong, the supply of facemasks has not become a controversial issue.
