A mask production line at Vinatex. — Photo courtesy of vinatex

HÀ NỘI — The price of medical masks is on the rise after two new COVID-19 cases were confirmed on Sunday evening, bringing the total number of community infections linked to Đà Nẵng and Quảng Ngãi to four in the past three days.

The mask market has been heating up. Online sellers quickly started to post medical masks with different prices. Overall, prices were increasing.

An Yen posted on a group of nearly 158,000 members that “people should be rush to buy medical masks before prices surge due to the recurrence of COVID-19 in the community. The price is now VNĐ70,000 for a box of fifty masks instead of VNĐ50,000 the day before”.

She also said the four-layer mask meets required standards. She sells hundreds of boxes a day, adding that buyers must purchase two boxes or more as it was hard to call shippers.

In the past two days, there were hundreds of posts on social media selling face masks.

Facebook account Quế Anh said she will keep the price of masks unchanged for pre-orders. Those ordering later would pay more.

“Wholesalers increased the price from VNĐ1.8 million to VNĐ2.4 million and even more than VNĐ3 million for a case of 50 boxes,” she said.

The online mask market has been active. However, in Hà Nội's pharmacies, sale have gone up again but there was no phenomenon of a “fever”, or scarcity of masks and antiseptic hand gel as before.

A pharmacist at An Tâm Pharmacy in Bắc Linh Đàm said the shop still has enough masks. However, the price increased from VNĐ50,000 to VNĐ70,000 for a box.

Meanwhile, pharmacy Tuệ Minh in Linh Đàm Urban Area told Việt Nam News their prices had not changed as they pre-ordered from producers.

“Currently, the supply of medical masks, antibacterial cloth masks and antiseptic hand wash is abundant,” she said.

However, she said, medical masks were out of stock and would be delivered tomorrow.

“Each person could only buy one box of masks for VNĐ40,000 to VNĐ70,000 depending on the type to avoid speculation,” she added.

Lê Tiến Trường, general director of Việt Nam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex), told Việt Nam News that Vinatex’s antibacterial cloth mask production capacity is 100 million pieces, while for medical mask it is 30 million pieces a month.

“When the pandemic occurred in Đà Nẵng and Quảng Ngãi, we directed the Vinatex member companies to resume the disease prevention procedures implemented in March and April, especially with factories in the central region.

"At the same time, Vinatex subsidiaries are ready to produce and supply enough for the 3-layer mask market,” said Trường.

According to a report from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, as of 11am on July 26, the Market Watch Department in Đà Nẵng checked 547 shops selling masks, antiseptic gel and gloves in the city.

The results showed that the situation was still stable. There was no phenomenon of people rushing to buy masks or hand gel. Shops did not hoard goods and listed full prices. — VNS