Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade and Ministry of Health to import more material for the production of surgical masks when the supply of this product remains insufficient amid wide spread of novel coronavirus-caused epidemic.

The two ministries have cooperated to seek suppliers for the domestic production, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade (MOIT) Dang Hoang An said at a government meeting on Feb 4.

To support the production of medical masks, members of the Vietnam Textile & Apparel Association have enhanced the production of antibacterial masks with capacity of 500,000 units per day, An said, adding that textile companies could halt export orders to focus on domestic demand with capacity up to 30 million units/day.

Many producers have postponed foreign orders to fulfill local ones, An said.

Market watchdogs keep an eye on medical masks. Photo: Tamnhin

Demand for surgical masks in Vietnam started to surge in the last week of January, even before the prime minister declared the national nCoV epidemic.

On the back of higher demand, the majority of drug stores raised the prices of surgical masks to four or five folds.

The chaos of the medical mask market did not last long after the market watchdogs tightened control over the selling prices. As a result, the authorities fined and withdrew business licenses of a number of drug stores for their act of making unreasonable benefit of the epidemic.

Currently, there remains a supply shortage of medical masks in Vietnam, especially in major cities.

In a latest move, the National Steering Committee for Epidemic Prevention and Control chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam asked local media to disseminate the use of fabric masks which are believed to have the same effect as medical masks.

At the government meeting on February 4, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc asked related agencies to strictly punish anyone who commits act of profiteering or speculation.

During the meeting, Deputy Minister of Finance Vu Thi Mai proposed exemption of import duty for medical masks and hand sanitizers in case of emergency.

Mai also sought the prime minister’s guidance for a request of sending 4.7 million medical masks from Vietnam to China by the Chinese Embassy in Hanoi. Earlier, the embassy made a diplomatic dispatch asking for the customs clearance of the batches of products.