Newsfrom Japan

Tokyo, Jan. 28 (Jiji Press)--Sales of face masks and other hygiene products have been surging in Japan amid the spread of pneumonia caused by a new type of coronavirus, with people from China, where the outbreak started, massively buying masks in particular.

"Chinese people living in Japan have bought 10 to 20 boxes of masks at once," the manager of a drug store in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward said. As masks sell out as soon as they come back in stock, the store started on Tuesday to allow one customer to buy only one box.

At a different drug store, a Chinese woman in her 30s, who lives in Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo, said that she has already sent more than 100 boxes of masks to her family in Shanghai and will buy more because they are not available in the city.

At drug stores run by Welcia Holdings Co. <3141>, sales of masks in the latest week doubled from the preceding week.

A public relations official of the company said that masks are in high demand among both Japanese and Chinese people. Sales of antibacterial sprays and hand sanitizers are also growing, the official added.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]