Mask sale rules come into effect from Monday

생년 끝자리 1•6년생 시작으로...오늘부터 마스크 5부제 시작

Day 1 of the government rationing system, limiting the number of masks each person can buy per week.
Only those whose birth year ends with 1 and 6 are allowed to their two mask purchased on Monday.
Yet, some came home empty-handed.
Yoon Jung-min has our top story.
Long lines have formed at pharmacies in Seoul as people queue for face masks.
From Monday, the masks supplied by the government went on sale based on the new 5-day rotation system.
"I've been waiting here since about 45 minutes before the pharmacy's opening time."
"It's hard to get masks these days. I work near here so I visited this pharmacy to get masks. I waited here for 40 minutes."
However, many had to return home empty-handed.
"At this local pharmacy in Seoul, the 250 masks it had in stock were all sold out in about 30 minutes."
People can buy only two masks a week,... and they can only buy them on a certain day determined by the last digit of their birth year.
On Mondays, only those who were born in a year ending with either 1 or 6 are allowed to buy the masks after confirming their identification.
Those born in a year ending with 2 or 7 are allowed to buy masks on Tuesdays; 3 or 8 on Wednesdays; 4 or 9 on Thursdays; and 5 or 0 on Fridays.
Those who can't get masks during the week can do so on the weekend.
Each mask costs about 1 U.S. dollar, 25 cents.
Proof of ID is needed to buy masks at pharmacies.
People can buy masks on behalf of those who are under 10, or over 80 years old, or who are disabled, but they have to buy them on those people's designated day.
On Monday, Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki visited one of the mask manufacturers in Gyeonggi-do Province,... to encourage suppliers amid the COVID-19 crisis.
Some 10-million masks a day, or about 80 percent of the total supply, are distributed by the government,... while the other 20 percent are provided by private suppliers.
Yoon Jung-min, Arirang News.

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