BEIJING – A tsunami of coronavirus infections in China is causing shortages of key drugs across the region as relatives and friends living overseas ship painkillers and antivirals from abroad, driving up prices and forcing some stores to cap purchases.
South Korea’s health ministry warned on Wednesday that it would punish the sale of “excessive amounts” of cold medicine to an individual patient, after local media reported that a Chinese customer had bought 6 million won (S$6,400) worth of drugs in Hanam city in Gyeonggi Province. Some pharmacies in Taiwan are running low on Panadol cold and flu tablets, while Bloomberg News visited 20 dispensaries in Hong Kong that were out of Panadol and Coltalin pills.
Beijing’s decision to abruptly remove most pandemic restrictions with little preparation is driving an unprecedented number of cases, leaving hospitals and funeral homes overwhelmed. Almost 37 million people were possibly infected on a single day last week, according to estimates from the government’s top health authority. That has led to a dearth of critical over-the-counter medicines locally, fuelling the surge in cross-border shipments.
Ms Shen Tsai-Ying, a pharmacist in Taipei, told Bloomberg News that Panadol was out of stock, and staff were instructed to refuse sales of more than 80 pills of antipyretics to help prevent stockpiling.
“We’re worried that Taiwanese people who work in China or have Chinese spouses will hoard and send antipyretics back,” Mr Huang Chin Shun, chairman of the Taiwan Pharmacists Association, said in an interview on Thursday.
Ibuprofen, paracetamol and Pfizer’s Paxlovid are among the most sought-after medicines in China, but the supply crunch is forcing residents to queue up for hours outside stores. Delivery apps say orders could take weeks to arrive. E-commerce platform Meituan said its medicine service provider, starting Thursday, would include an option for pharmacies to help them sell paracetamol and ibuprofen in smaller lots.
Just like the Taipei pharmacy, other outlets in the region such as Singapore supermarket FairPrice and Hong Kong pharmacy chains Watsons and Mannings are responding to the buying spree by imposing purchase limits on Panadol and Nurofen. Some pharmacies in Japan are following suit, according to 27-year-old Tokyo resident Yichun Geng. She said she could buy only two boxes of the ibuprofen tablet EVE at one outlet to send to family in China.
Tokyo-based Taisho Pharmaceutical Holdings, which makes over-the-counter cold remedy Pabron, said it has seen an “unexpected, sudden increase” in demand after speculative Chinese social media posts saying the medicine eases Covid-19 symptoms. Taisho said on Thursday that none of the OTCs, including its own, is known to be effective against Covid-19, and advised customers to exercise caution.
Asahi Shimbun reported that the increase in demand for cold medicines is emptying out shelves of drugstores in Japan.
For those lucky enough to lay their hands on dwindling supplies, logistics is proving to be a hurdle.
Courier ShunXing Logistics in Singapore is placing caps on the number of Covid-related medical items people can mail due to a “manpower shortage and overcrowding”, it announced in a WeChat post last week. Some branches are allowing a maximum of 50 customers per day to send parcels containing Covid-19 medicines.