Story By: John Feng, Sub-Editor:  Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report

This video shows police officers stopping an apparently selfish motorist who is seen wearing over a dozen surgical masks at the same time while trying not to contract the killer Wuhan coronavirus.

It happened just two days before China’s foreign affairs ministry announced it “urgently needs” medical supplies including masks, decontamination suits and goggles as the death toll from the outbreak reaches nearly 500 in the country.

Traffic officers manning checkpoints in the town of Gaobu in Dongguan, a major city in China’s southern province of Guangdong, were shocked when they stopped the driver for a routine inspection at the border.

Body-worn camera footage dated 1st February shows the policeman asking where the driver is coming from when the motorist rolls down his window and reveals the stack of masks covering his mouth and nose.

The officer exclaims: “Wow, how many masks are you wearing?”

The motorist mumbles a response, to which the officer adds: “Why don’t you take a few of them off?”

The cop watches in shock as the paranoid driver, who was apparently trying hard not to catch the Wuhan coronavirus, removes all but one of the one-time use surgical masks from his face.

The officer says: “You really don’t need to wear so many masks.

“There’s a national shortage of masks at the moment, so just wear one.”

The motorist, who is left with a huge pile of surgical masks on his centre console, nods as the policeman thanks him and lets him through.

The driver has been dubbed “wasteful” by members of the public at a time when one-time surgical masks are sold out across the country.

On 3rd February, Chinese foreign affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying said China “urgently needs” medical masks, protective suits and goggles.

“What China urgently needs at present are medical masks, protective suits, and safety goggles,” the foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a press briefing.

The government reported its factories were producing 20 million masks a day at full capacity, well short of the national demand for one-time use surgical masks.

In Taiwan, Premier Su Tseng-chang announced a surgical mask rationing system which will take effect on 6th February.

Residents of the island will be allowed to purchase just two masks a week from licensed pharmacies, and must each present their National Health Insurance for record-keeping purposes and to prevent mask hoarding.

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