Countries rushed to protect their supply of masks on Wednesday
as panic buying, hoarding and theft spread over fears of the deadly
coronavirus epidemic, with global health officials warning that stocks
of protective gear were rapidly dwindling.
The disease, which first emerged in China, is appearing in new countries almost every day, with Iran, Italy and South Korea facing growing caseloads.
The
death toll in Italy soared to 79 on Tuesday, with more than 2,500
people infected. A group of Italian tourists was placed in quarantine in
India, with 17 testing positive for the virus.
One
bright spot has been China's apparent progress in slowing the epidemic,
with official figures on Wednesday showing new cases falling for a third
straight day.
More than 90,000 people have been
infected and around 3,200 have died worldwide, with Iraq reporting its
first death from the disease on Wednesday while dozens have died so far
in neighbouring Iran.
The death rate is around 3.4
percent, much higher than the seasonal flu at under one percent,
according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The vast majority of cases and fatalities have been in China
where tens of millions of people have been placed under quarantine, but
infections are rising faster abroad now, prompting countries to
discourage large gatherings and cancel a slew of events.
The
death toll in the United States climbed to nine, many linked to a
nursing home near Seattle, while the overall number of infections shot
past 100.
The WHO voiced concern that masks, goggles
and other protective equipment used by health workers were running out
due to "rising demand, hoarding and misuse".
"We can't
stop Covid-19 without protecting our health workers," WHO chief Tedros
Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva, noting prices of masks
have surged sixfold and the cost of ventilators has tripled.
Tedros
said the WHO had shipped more than half a million sets of personal
protective equipment to 27 countries, but warned that "supplies are
rapidly depleting".
Shortages of equipment in China
caused thousands of medical workers to become infected with a dozen
dying, prompting the country to step up supplies by repurposing
production lines at diaper, coat and smartphone factories to make masks
and hazmat suits.
PANIC BUYING
At
least 500 people queued up outside a supermarket in Seoul to buy masks
on Wednesday, with President Moon Jae-in apologising for shortages this
week.
South Korea makes 10 million masks a day and the
government has ordered manufacturers to supply half their output to post
offices, pharmacies, and a nationwide agricultural co-operative for
sale at a fixed low price, with a five-per-person limit.
The virus has infected more than 5,600 people and killed 32 in South Korea, with more new daily cases there now than in China.
China
reported 38 more deaths on Wednesday but only 119 new cases, its lowest
number since January, with most infections in central Hubei province's
capital Wuhan, where the virus was first detected in December.
There have now been 2,981 deaths in China and over 80,000 cases.
Indonesian
police seized 600,000 face masks from a Jakarta-area warehouse after
the country's first confirmed cases of coronavirus sparked panic buying
and sent prices for prevention products skyrocketing.
"Mask
prices have skyrocketed everywhere and there are shortages, most likely
because hoarders are trying to make money at the public's expense,"
Jakarta police spokesman Yusri Yunus told AFP.
Russia
issued a decree Wednesday banning the export of masks, respirators and
hazmat suits to ensure access to the items for medics treating
coronavirus patients and the public.
In Italy, a top
civil protection official told AFP the country, which does not make face
masks, is getting 800,000 of them from South Africa but needs at least
10 million more.
Italian hospitals had initial supplies
but the rapid spread of the epidemic has put the health system under
strain, said Civil Protection Department director Luigi D'Angelo.
French
President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday his government would requisition
all face mask stocks and production in the coming months in response to
the outbreak, after 2,000 masks were stolen from a hospital.
A
Chinese industry ministry official said Wednesday companies are
encouraged to export protective gear to meet foreign demand as
production now exceeds daily needs in Hubei, the epicentre of the
epidemic.
US FED
While shoppers stock up, policymakers are scrambling to prevent a global economic downturn.
The
US Federal Reserve's policy-setting committee slashed its key interest
rate by half a point to a range of 1.0-1.25 percent -- the first
between-meeting cut since the height of the global 2008 financial
crisis.
But the move failed to impress investors on
Wall Street, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average finishing nearly
three percent lower.
Most Asian and European equities, however, rose on Wednesday.
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