Hong Kong pharmacies ready to slash mask prices ahead of possible mandate lifting

At one of the stores, Audrey Chan, a 16-year-old student, and her mother said they had only bought two boxes, or 60 masks, at a cost of HK$236 as they were unsure when the mask rule would be scrapped.

“Nowadays, government policies can happen with immediate effect. It can be announced today and take effect the next day,” her mother said, adding they only had half a box left at home.

Hong Kong has relaxed travel restrictions, social-distancing measures and isolation orders in the wake of mainland China’s move away from its zero-Covid approach and the receding pandemic, but the city has kept the mask mandate in place.

Mask-wearing became mandatory in July 2020 and offenders can receive on-the-spot fines of HK$5,000.

Medical experts had earlier said they expected the measure to be dropped in late March after the flu season passed.

Although retiree Regina Kwong, 70, said she would continue to wear a mask for health reasons even after the mandate was scrapped, she kept her purchases modest.

“I still have a few boxes at home … I mainly buy masks when I see the patterns that I like. If there are new patterns, I will buy some,” she said after buying two packs of masks for more than HK$70.

While most pharmacies the Post reached out to noted a decline in mask sales, none had reduced their prices yet.

“The price of the mask is the same as before, we didn’t cut the price,” an employee at Ying Kwok pharmacy in Wan Chai said, adding the cost had remained unchanged for six months.

“We are considering cutting the price in the future if the government cancels the mask mandate,” he added, indicating their average price of a regular mask remained at HK$50 to HK$80 for a 50-piece box.

A staff member at Peace Dispensary, a pharmacy located in Yau Ma Tei, also said he believed fewer customers would be buying masks when the mandate was dropped.

He said one of the reasons that dispensaries were maintaining prices was that their purchase cost from mask suppliers remained unchanged.

Government pandemic adviser Professor Lau Yu-lung suggested lifting the mask rule at the end of this month or early March in phases while monitoring if there was any impact on the number of cases.

“The current number reported Covid-19 and flu cases are at low levels for a while despite [the gradual] relaxation as well as increase in people travelling in and out Hong Kong,” he said.

Hong Kong has scrapped the bulk of its testing regime. Health authorities now only disclose infections logged via polymerase reaction chain tests, which are also no longer required for travel to the mainland.

He said the public could be first allowed to remove their masks outdoors, then low-risk indoor areas, and lastly hospitals and elderly homes.

Respiratory medicine expert Dr Leung Chi-chiu said the government could drop the mask mandate after the cancellation of daily testing in schools.

Students are required to conduct a rapid antigen test before they go to school until at least February 28. The government had said it would review whether the measures could be dropped beyond this date.

“The mask mandate for outdoors can be dropped before the mandate for indoors. The latter is best implemented after our usual winter flu season at the end of March,” Leung said.

He said the step-by-step approach could minimise the risk of a rebound in case numbers and allow time for herd immunity to consolidate.