The outbreak has recently spread globally, with confirmed cases on six The outbreak has recently spread globally, with confirmed cases on six continents except Antarctica. There are currently 460 thousand confirmed cases worldwide. Face mask market at home and abroad is in short supply, face mask instantly become the most urgent demand for epidemic prevention materials. At present, it seems that the outbreak is still in the early stage because the overseas outbreak lags behind China, and the masks in the worst-affected areas are directly out of stock.

The United States, South Korea and Japan are scrambling for masks, Global demand grew 100-fold

The world health organization (who) says the world is facing a shortage of protective equipment, including masks, disposable gloves and goggles. In addition, the materials needed to process masks are also very tight, there has been a shortage, inventory is running out, and new orders have been backlog of 4-6 months.

1. U.S. face mask gap is 270 million

Alex azar, the U.S. health secretary, also told the hearing that the US strategic stockpile of masks is only 30 million, but there is currently a need for 300 million masks for healthcare workers alone, so the shortfall is close to 270 million.

2. Demand for surgical masks in South Korea increased by 7650%

The latest confirmed case of novel coronavirus in South Korea was announced this morning, bringing the total to 5,766, 438 more than the previous day. The outbreak has led to a surge in demand for face masks, which the government has been unable to guarantee, with many people queuing for seven hours to buy five or fewer, and public discontent growing. South Korea’s President, has apologized twice, asked for forgiveness and stepped up efforts to secure supplies of face masks.

Demand for surgical masks in South Korea has increased by 7650% in the past month, according to China news service international. In addition, KF94 face masks were recently sold for more than 4,000 won online, up six to eight times from before the outbreak, according to the country’s statistics agency. South Korean pharmacies are reported to be out of stock of all types of masks. Once the drugstore or supermarket has the goods, there will be a long line at the door, or even a “thousand long queue”.

3. Italian masks are out of stock

In the early days of the outbreak in Italy, many people refused to wear masks, and there were mass protests, including a strong attack on a member of parliament who wore one.

But it soon became clear that the situation was not good. There have been outbreaks of different procedures in 19 regions in Italy. Masks have also become popular in Italy and are out of stock.

As of March 4, the number of confirmed covid-19 cases in Italy rose to 2,546, with 79 deaths, Europa reported. A pharmacy in Milan said it had sold out of masks in the morning, while prices at online stores rose from 10 cents to 10 euros. What’s more, people are willing to go to the hospital and steal masks in order to get them. According to the Italian nurses’ union, there have been a number of thefts, most of them of surgical masks. According to reports, Rome-based medical-device company DPI said it ran out of 10 years’ worth of masks in 10 days. The BLS, a maker of masks and protective gear, said it had received orders for 10 million masks in recent days, compared with an annual market demand of 15 million to 20 million masks in Italy, meaning it received 50 percent of Italy’s annual production capacity in a matter of days.

Many countries limit the purchase, export, production capacity is still insufficient

Countries have taken varying measures to address the shortage of masks, but this is still a drop in the bucket.

The U.S. government, unable to immediately move back to foreign factories, is actively seeking a massive increase in production at home. Vice President Mike pence said the U.S. government is in talks to sign a contract with 3M to increase production by 35 million masks a month. At the same time, the United States is encouraging other mask suppliers to help increase production. The U.S. department of health and human services (HHS) recently said the government is committed to buying up all the remaining masks after the outbreak to ensure there is not a large surplus of masks in stock. But in the face of a $270m shortfall, this seems unlikely to fully solve the problem.

The government has decided to increase the number of masks sold through public channels, such as pharmacies, post offices and farmers’ association supermarkets, to 80 percent of total production from 50 percent, KBS reported on March 5. At the same time, the south Korean government is exploring a total ban on exports. At present, the south Korean government decided to take temporary measures to limit the purchase of two masks per person per week, and through the safe use of medical services to prevent repeat purchase. In addition, the current production of masks in South Korea can reach more than 10 million on weekdays, but halved on weekends. South Korea’s government decided to push ahead with subsidies to boost weekend production. But under such measures, the gap is still very big in South Korea, a man in his 80s, queuing for seven hours to get a number to buy masks, only to buy a few masks, and many people can not buy masks at all.

In Italy, in order to expand the supply of masks, the Italian COVID-19 emergency committee said that the government had established a special channel for mask procurement in cooperation with the Italian federation of industrialists, and would allocate good masks to different regions according to the epidemic situation in different regions. At present, some regional governments have urgently purchased 300,000 ffp3 masks and 200,000 surgical masks.

The French government has begun requisitioning face masks from the population. “We will requisition all protective masks manufactured and in stock and distribute them to medical workers and French people infected with novel coronavirus,” macron said in an earlier message on social media. On March 4, the French government issued a decree requiring the requisition by May 31 of all FFP2 respirators and disposable medical masks owned and produced by public and private entities.

The world is waiting for the “Chinese mask”

Fifty percent of the world’s masks are made in China, and the other 50 percent of the world’s mask makers import a significant portion of their ingredients from China. More than 20 million masks were produced in China every day before the outbreak. After the adjustment of mask production capacity in the fight against the epidemic, the daily production of masks in China has reached 116 million, which has increased nearly five times. Such speed and power, perhaps only China can achieve.

1. Expand production line to restore production capacity

China north equipment group said the first folding mask production line allocated by the national development and reform commission was successfully debugged on March 1, and the daily output will gradually reach 50,000. The second production line equipment was also delivered to Hubei Huaqiang for equipment debugging. It is expected that the daily production of masks in the two production lines will reach 100,000 on March 10.

At present, many local mask manufacturers are also restoring production capacity, such as Jiangsu, Guangdong, Jiangxi, Henan and other provinces are increasing the rate of return to work, and then the daily production capacity of masks will be expanded.

2. More than 700 companies such as BYD and Foxconn produce masks across the border

Many companies join in the team, the cross-border production mask eye check pro, according to data to industrial and commercial registration change information, since January 1, 2020 the solstice on February 7, scope of business for nearly 4000 companies added “masks, protective clothing, disinfectant, thermometer, medical apparatus and instruments,” such as business, among them, the scope of business of new medical devices as many as 3647 enterprises. Among them, BYD expects to produce 5 million masks a day, Shanghai GM Wuling 1.7 million, and many manufacturing bigwigs have joined the army. This is bound to make a great contribution to the daily production of masks in China.

3. Mask raw materials continue to expand production

With the continuous improvement of mask production capacity, the production capacity of melt spraying cloth, the core material of mask manufacturing, is also continuously improved. Sinopec press office announced on March 2 that China petrochemical Yizheng chemical fiber 4,000 tons of polypropylene melt-blown nonwovens project feasibility report officially completed, the project is expected to be completed in the middle of April, when the daily production of melt-blown fabric can reach 12 tons, can be used to process 12 million medical masks. According to the introduction, this project altogether constructs 8 fusion-spraying cloth production lines, the production capacity total 4000 tons per year, after putting into operation can produce 8 tons of N95 fusion-spraying cloth per day, or medical plane mask raw material 12 tons, these raw materials can produce 2.4 million N95 masks, or medical plane mask 12 million pieces.

The outbreak is proof that medical supplies have been upgraded to “strategic materials” overnight, and national stockpiles are on the agenda.