[Press Release, March 16, 2020 / unofficial translation ]



Supply status of Filtering Respirators/Surgical Masks for Public Sales
- Total of 8,304 thousand filtering respirators/surgical masks supplied on Mar. 16 -


□ The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (Minister Lee Eui-Kyung) has presented details regarding the current supply status of filtering respirators and surgical masks through public retailers.


≪ Supply of Public Filtering Respirators and Surgical Masks on Mar. 16 ≫

□ A total of 8.304 million filtering respirators/surgical masks being supplied today (Mar. 16) through public retailers

○ The filtering respirators/surgical masks can be purchased at ?pharmacies and ?Nonghyup Hanaro Marts nationwide (excluding Hanaro Marts in Seoul/Gyeonggi province), and ?post offices in Daegu/Cheongdo and Eup/Myeon-level regions.

○ Furthermore, “duplicate purchase identification system” is being implemented at Nonghyup Hanaro Marts as well, and a 5-day rotation system based on the last digit of a purchaser’s birth year is being used at all public retailers selling publicly supplied filtering respirators/surgical masks.

○ For instance, on Monday, people whose birth year ends with 1 or 6 can purchase up to “2 masks per person”, and even those who purchased filtering respirators/surgical masks last week can still purchase them again this week (Mar. 16 to Mar. 22).
※ This week, once a purchase at any one single location amongst pharmacies/post offices/Hanaro Marts is made, further purchases are restricted.


≪Status of 1st week after the implementation of the 5-day rotation system (Mar. 9)≫

□ A total of 48,472 thousand filtering respirators/surgical masks were supplied through public retailers during the 1-week period (from Mar. 9 (Mon.) to Mar. 15 (Sun.)) following the implementation of the 5-day rotation system based on birth years.

○ The supply amount increased by around 15.06 million units or more when compared to the 33,409 thousand units supplied the week before the implementation of the 5-day rotation system (Mar. 2 to Mar. 8), due to an expansion of the public supply quantity (50% →80%).

○ It appears that more people have been able to purchase filtering respirators/surgical masks due to an increase in the amount supplied to pharmacies, restricting purchases to 2 per person, and applying the 5-day rotation system.

- Before implementation of the 5-day rotation system, 100 units were supplied to each pharmacy. After implementation of the system, this was increased to 250 per pharmacy, allowing 125 people to purchase 2 each without any over-purchasing.
※ (Nonghyup) Mar. 6 to Mar. 13: 1, from Mar. 14: 2 per person; (post offices) Mar. 6 to Mar. 10: 1, from Mar. 11: 2 per person

- Accordingly, during the past week (Mar. 9 to Mar. 15) 19.13 million people purchased publicly supplied filtering respirators/surgical masks through public retailers.


□ Furthermore, for the people for whom visiting a pharmacy would be difficult?such as children under the age of 10/elderly citizens 80 years of age or older/disabled persons?the range of people for whom proxy purchasing is permitted was expanded, starting from Mar. 9.

○ However, the need for proxy purchasing for wounded patriots/veterans has been raised as an issue, and necesary measures will be determined after continuous review and discussion between related governmental departments.

○ The government will work hard to minimize any inconveniences experienced by the public by making quick improvements related to any operational inadequacies discovered during the implementation of the 5-day rotation system for filtering respirator/surgical mask purchasing.


≪Efforts to Increase Production Amounts and Stabilize Supply≫

□ Supply amounts still fall short of satisfying spiking demand for filtering respirators/surgical masks for health purposes. The government remains committed to expand the supply of filtering respirators/surgical masks by increasing domestic production amounts.

○ Production amounts have increased drastically. The daily average production amount for 2019 was 3 million units (estimated), while production on Jan. 30, 2020 totaled 6.59 million units and the average production for weekdays during the past week was 12.91 million units (for healthcare purposes: 12.12 million).

○ The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy is providing support to ensure there are no setbacks to production through release adjustments for filters, the Public Procurement Service is supporting increases in production by giving price incentives for increases in production, and the Ministry of National Defense is providing personnel/vehicles needed for packaging/transport.

- The MFDS has been encouraging a transition from the production of KF94 to that of KF80 to address filter shortage and increase air permeability of filtering respirators, and is also quickly processing approvals for changes in materials, such as filters.

○ Furthermore, the government has organized reserve funds/special disaster subsidies for related projects, including 7 bil won for the construction of MB filter equipment and highly-efficient packaging equipment to increase filtering respirator/surgical mask production and 84.5 bil won to provide free filtering respirators/surgical masks to medical personnel and low income/vulnerable persons.


≪Replacement Filtering Respirators/Surgical Mask Supply and Support≫

□ The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy is supporting the supply of filtering respirators/surgical masks which have excellent performance when compared to cotton masks and which are simple to bring to market.

□ At the local government level as well, community members are joining forces to enable the supply/provision of alternative types of masks, such as by developing such alternatives or by providing cloth masks produced through volunteer work to disadvantaged people.


≪Support for Quick Approvals and Import Clearance for Foreign Filtering Respirators/Surgical Masks≫

□ The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety/Korea Customs Service are drastically simplifying clearance procedures for filtering respirators/surgical masks being imported to ensure a smooth domestic supply, and are operating “quick clearance support teams” to enable the quickest import procedures possible
※ Temporary operation (from 3/9) of ‘quick clearance support teams for importing filtering respirators/surgical masks’ at 34 customs offices across the country

○ For healthcare-use/surgical marks imported for non-profit purposes, such as for donation or use as relief supplies, the MFDS is temporarily recommending such products as being subject to the exemption of import requirement confirmation and thereby enabling them to be imported without approval, while customs offices are minimizing clearance screening procedures. (From Mar. 11)
※ Number of cases exempted from import requirement verification (Mar. 15): 263 cases (for 8.84 million filtering respirators/surgical masks) - Details: (relief supplies/donations) 61 cases (for 664 units), (for employees) 202 cases (for 2.2 million units)

- In the case of products to be sold commercially, an import (item) approval must be received, but the MFDS is seeing to it that import approvals are processed as quickly as possible.


□ The government is prioritizing the distribution of filtering respirators/surgical masks to the medical/epidemic prevention fields, to whom such equipment is absolutely necessary, and is working hard to deliver the remaining supply to all citizens in an equitable manner,

○ Furthermore, the MFDS will carry out a joint government-wide crackdown, joined by of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety/Korea Fair Trade Commission/National Tax Service/Korea Customs Service/National Police Agency/local government, in regards to unfair trade activities in relation to filtering respirators/surgical masks and hand sanitizer, such as price-gouging and cornering the market. If any price-gouging and hoarding activities are discovered through these efforts, we will make sure to release all such filtering respirators/surgical masks immediately and return them to the public.


□ We would like to offer the deepest of thanks to those citizens who are showing consideration to and making sacrifices for their neighbors who have a greater need for filtering respirators/surgical masks in the time when supply is far less than demand.

○ Furthermore, we express our sincerest gratitude to the workers in the manufacturing/distribution businesses working day and night to ensure sufficient supply of filtering respirators/surgical masks, pharmacists striving to make filtering respirators/surgical masks available to the public, and volunteers and military personnel/public service personnel helping with packaging/sales and vehicle transport.


□ At the local government level as well, community members are joining forces to enable the supply/provision of alternative types of masks, such as by developing such alternatives or by providing cloth masks produced through volunteer work to disadvantaged people.

○ Production amounts have increased drastically. The daily average production amount for 2019 was 3 million units (estimated), while production on Jan. 30, 2020 totaled 6.59 million units and the average production for weekdays during the past week was 12.91 million units (for healthcare purposes: 12.12 million).