Middle and High School Students and Hospitalized Patients Now Allowed Proxy Mask Purchases

On the 5th, a sign announcing "Public Masks for Sale" was posted at the entrance of a pharmacy in Seoul. The government supplied 12,154,000 public masks this weekend to resolve the mask shortage crisis. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] From the 6th, the number of proxy buyers eligible to purchase masks on behalf of students who have difficulty visiting pharmacies or hospitalized patients has increased.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced that starting today, those born after 2002 will be added as proxy buyers for masks. This measure, which was previously applied only to those born after 2010, has been advanced to include students from 5th grade in elementary school to 3rd grade in high school. This expansion adds approximately 3.83 million people.

Additionally, hospitalized patients in nursing hospitals, long-term care benefit recipients residing in care facilities, and hospitalized patients in general hospitals have also been added. Hospitalized patients in nursing hospitals or care facility residents can have their masks purchased by proxy through the staff of the respective institutions on their designated 5-day rotation purchase day. Hospitalized patients in general hospitals can have their masks purchased by proxy through cohabitants registered in the resident registration on the patient’s designated 5-day rotation purchase day.

With this expansion, a total of approximately 4.51 million people are now eligible for proxy mask purchases. Previously, proxy purchases were allowed for persons with disabilities, long-term care benefit recipients, elderly people (born in 1940 or earlier), children (born in 2010 or later), pregnant women, and certain national veterans with disabilities. When purchasing by proxy, all necessary documents must be prepared, and purchases must be made according to the birth year of the purchase target. The government expects that with the increased eligibility, students and patients will be able to purchase masks more conveniently.

Thanks to policy support to increase mask production and imports, the supply situation has improved compared to the past. According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, the production and import volume of masks in the first week of this month was 90.27 million units, about 24% higher than before the implementation of the 5-day rotation mask purchase system about a month ago. Last week, the supply of public masks totaled 67.26 million units, an increase of about 6.15 million units from the previous week. Of these, 9.14 million were supplied to medical personnel, 1.03 million to Daegu and Gyeongbuk regions, and 680,000 to the Ministry of Health and Welfare for basic livelihood security recipients. In addition to public masks, 12.57 million masks were sold through general distribution channels from the 29th of last month to the 4th of this month.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety is expediting the processing of mask manufacturing business registrations and product approvals, and since the 2nd, has established separate standards under related regulations to facilitate the development of replaceable filter masks. However, they remain cautious about abolishing the 5-day rotation system or easing purchase restrictions. At a briefing on the day, Yang Jin-young, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, said, "Thanks to active cooperation from frontline manufacturers and distributors, the 5-day rotation system has been somewhat stably established, making mask purchases somewhat easier," but added, "Production is still not sufficient to meet all mask demand, so discussions on abolishing the 5-day rotation system or easing purchase restrictions are premature."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.