SINGAPORE — The Government yesterday took further measures to make masks available, including announcing a plan to distribute them for free to lower-income households, as well as capping the prices of those sold at NTUC FairPrice outlets and limiting the number a person can buy.

It also blamed panic buying for shortages which have led to increased frustration among Singaporeans.

As the three-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) hit an all-time high of 401 at noon, distressed Singaporeans complained of long queues at some pharmacies, empty shelves at others, and accused several traders of jacking up prices to profit from a crisis.

Yesterday, the Haze Inter-Ministerial Committee issued guidelines on what to do at each PSI threshold.

At a high-powered press briefing yesterday, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, who chairs the committee, stressed the guidelines “are not, and should not, be treated as panic lines”.

“When it comes to pollutants, it’s not quite like the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) virus, it’s not all or none, whether you have been exposed or not, but it is a continuum,” he said.

Adding that the guidelines reflect a “graduated approach”, Dr Ng said they “do not indicate a hard line for stoppage of work or closure of schools”.

He said: “For some, their home environment is no different from school or work.” Dr Ng added that in the event of a “mass closure of outdoor businesses, airports, ports and other sectors”, the impact to society “is very great and there would be knock-on effects and it is not sensible for us or sustainable to do that”.

The briefing yesterday took place after a day of frenzied buying of masks. Despite the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) assurances on Thursday that it has a stockpile of 9 million masks and had replenished the pharmacies’ inventory, many outlets were out of stock yesterday.

Some retailers jacked prices up to as high as S$10 a piece, compared to the usual price of S$1 to S$2. A black market also emerged with people offering masks at exorbitant prices.

Acknowledging the problem, Dr Ng pointed out that for the majority of the public who are healthy, “masks are only needed for outdoor work if the 24-hour PSI is greater than 300, but we have not reached that yet”.

“Panic buying for ‘just-in-case’ and ‘let’s be extra careful’ is creating artificial shortages. As MOH has said, we have enough stock, but this sudden large demand is causing supply chain bottlenecks,” he added.

Limiting the number of N95 masks that each person can buy at FairPrice would help to alleviate the frenzy, Dr Ng said. Still, the Government will deal with the situation “decisively to push more masks to retail outlets”, he added.

Grassroots organisations will start distributing one million free N95 masks to 200,000 low-income households in all constituencies tomorrow. The Singapore Armed Forces will help to transport the masks from the warehouses to the grassroots organisations.

Dr Ng said he expected the distribution to take a few days and sought the public’s understanding. Those with pre-existing medical conditions who are unable to get masks can approach their grassroots leaders, he said.

Writing on Facebook, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong reiterated that “most of us don’t need to use masks, unless we have medical conditions like asthma or have to do strenuous work outdoors when the haze is bad”. He added: “There are enough masks — please do not panic-buy or hoard.”

Mr Lee said he was “heartened by the kindness of Singaporeans when faced by the haze”. He added: “Some are distributing herbal tea and masks to needy residents, while others are opening up their air-conditioned homes to strangers!”

Mr Lee said the Government will create more air-conditioned “haze shelters” in the Residents’ Committees and Community Centres for the public.

PHARMACIES OUT OF STOCK

The panic buying began early yesterday. In the morning, several people called the MediaCorp news hotline to point out that the stock at some polyclinics and hospitals had run out.

When TODAY visited several pharmacy outlets yesterday afternoon, the masks were all sold out. At a Guardian outlet, the staff was compiling a waiting list of more than 20 customers for the masks. Guardian said new stocks were expected to arrive in its stores this weekend. Another chain, Watsons, said it had more than one million masks in supply.

Financial adviser representative David Soh described the situation as “ridiculous”. He said: “We shouldn’t be made to go on the merry-go-round all over the island just to find these masks.”

The shortage of masks resulted in some opportunistic traders trying to exploit the situation. A shop at Yishun MRT Station was hawking N95 masks at S$10 a piece, while at Jurong East bus interchange, there were people selling N95 masks at S$5 each. Online marketplaces were even touting masks for as high as three-figure prices each.

The situation led to the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) warning retailers against profiteering. “They should not take advantage of the plight of consumers and inflate prices at this critical period of time,” CASE President Lim Biow Chuan said.

DON’T SPREAD MALICIOUS RUMOURS: NG

The panic buying was stoked by SMSes and Facebook posts which were circulating widely, spreading rumours and unverified information about the impact of the haze. To this, Dr Ng said: “Don’t use this occasion to feed on fear and panic to profit for yourselves or to spread malicious rumours. Use this occasion to come together to bond society together.”

Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources Deputy Secretary Tan Gee Keow assured that the water quality is safe, while Health Minister Gan Kim Yong stressed that there were enough hospital beds to cope with the situation.

“Over time, we would expect to see more cases, but many … won’t require hospitalisation,” he said.

Mr Gan also said 215 general practitioners have come on board the special scheme — which was announced on Thursday — under which the Government would subsidise the medical bills of Singaporeans, especially the vulnerable groups, for respiratory problems and conjunctivitis.

Yesterday, the National Healthcare Group (NHG) Polyclinics said patients seeking asthma treatment have increased by about 50 per cent.

SingHealth Polyclinics said it saw about 590 asthma cases between Monday and Thursday, compared to about 450 over the same period two weeks ago.

Meanwhile, Thailand has issued a travel advisory for its citizens to avoid travelling to Singapore. Its embassy in Singapore recommended that Thais here as well as those with plans to travel here closely monitor the haze situation. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY ASHLEY CHIA