TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — As pride in Taiwan is on the rise for its handling of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, members of a Taiwanese Facebook group have pinpointed three spots in New Taipei City where face masks with Taiwanese flags on them are being sold.

A member of a Taiwanese Facebook group that specializes in information on face masks on Monday (April 13) announced that she had received several 3D polyurethane masks with the Taiwanese flag when purchasing her biweekly ration of masks. She wrote that "big kids" and adults can wear them but that they are too small for children.

She wrote that her masks were not for sale but that she would be willing to swap them for other unusual styles. A flurry of comments followed, with some claiming to have received the masks at pharmacies in New Taipei City's Shulin and Tucheng Districts as well as in the National Taipei University area of Sanxia District.

On Wednesday (April 15), another member of the group posted a photo of more masks emblazoned with the country's flag and asked others to comment if they had received any, but none of those who responded had. One person said that they had seen a pharmacy in front of Shulin Train Station selling them two days before.



Masks with Taiwanese flags recently purchased in New Taipei City. (Facebook image)

Another person said that these masks are issued at government-contracted pharmacies and that the factory is in New Taipei City's Yingge District. They claimed that the factory supplies drug stores in Shulin and Tucheng.

In February, as fears over the coronavirus outbreak reached a fever pitch and Chinese purchases of face masks rapidly began to deplete the global supply, an image on social media showing masks guaranteed to keep Chinese away due to the presence of the dreaded Taiwanese flag quickly went viral. As some Taiwanese netizens pointed out, the face masks can indeed be purchased on the Champ Mask website in adult and child sizes in packages of 5 masks each, with 200 packages per box.

In early March, Ruptly posted a video interview with a representative of a factory in Taoyuan who said that sales of their Taiwanese flag masks were selling as fast as they could make them, and that they had had to triple production to meet demand.