Huge demand for face masks across Bahrain

Face masks were out of stock at many pharma stores across the Kingdom as people began buying them in large numbers over coronavirus fear. The shortage is attributed to declining supply and increasing demand in the Kingdom.

Speaking to Tribune, a pharma store manager, who doesn’t want to be named, said: “We have a huge shortage of face masks as we sold out our stocks in the last two days. “Though no cases are reported in the Kingdom, people here are taking special caution and a good number of them are wearing face masks, which is one of the ways to prevent being infected.” He said masks were being imported from China and the supplies have declined owing to huge demand in that country. “If you see, the Chinese authorities have asked everyone at risk to wear face masks. The demand is vast as China is the largest populated country in the world,” he added.

However, on the contrary, there were also many reports on media, which states there are not enough evidences to suggest that wearing a face mask has any benefit for the general public. The Wuhan coronavirus outbreak continues its deadly spread. The novel illness, provisionally known as 2019-nCov, has infected almost 14,500 people according to the latest data. There have been over 300 deaths, with cases springing up in 27 countries. Chinese authorities have implemented wide-ranging travel restrictions to control the outbreak