(Bloomberg) — Hong Kong’s pharmacies are running out of flu and cold medicines as residents stock up on essential supplies to ride out any potential lockdowns in a city overwhelmed by record Covid-19 cases and surging deaths.
There’s been a run on Panadol, a popular brand of the pain reliever paracetamol, and the drug was mostly unavailable Monday at local chains including Watsons and Mannings, as well as online shopping platform HKTVMall. Other medicines such as Mucinex, Fluimucil and Fortune Coltalin were also out of stock.
Watsons, owned by CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd., and Mannings, owned by Jardine Matheson Holdings Ltd., did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The scarcity of the common drugs underscores the angst that’s gripped the city of 7.4 million people in the face of its largest-ever coronavirus outbreak. Hong Kong is set to report more than 34,000 cases on Monday, local media reported. Hospitals are inundated and the city’s morgues are nearly full, with bodies of those who died from Covid left in emergency wards and hallways.
The city reported a record 26,026 new cases on Sunday and 83 deaths.
Officials haven’t fully ruled out a lockdown during a planned citywide mandatory testing period, Commercial Radio Hong Kong reported, citing Sophia Chan, secretary for food and health. The prospect of increasing curbs — a possibility that’s been dismissed by Chief Executive Carrie Lam on multiple occasions earlier — prompted many residents to queue up at supermarkets to hoard provisions.
The government’s pandemic adviser David Hui also urged residents to stock up on medical supplies such as Panadol and rapid test kits in the event they need to isolate at home, the South China Morning Post reported.
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