[Explanation] A few days ago, some self-help epidemic vending machines appeared in Central Plaza and many communities in Hong Kong. People can pay by WeChat or Octopus to buy masks or disinfectants. It turned out that these vending machines were set up by the Hong Kong youth Zhang Huanran and his SmADt company team.

[Explanation] On March 17, Zhang Yingran said in an exclusive interview with reporters that the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic globally, masks have become the target of wild grabs, the "Hong Kong mask" phenomenon often appears in the Hong Kong market, and there are elderly people waiting in line to buy masks overnight. So he discussed with the team members and decided to imitate the form of a commodity vending machine and set up a self-help epidemic vending machine from February 25. They import masks from Vietnam, Egypt, India, and Poland, each importing 100,000 to 200,000 masks to ensure that each vending machine can fill 40 boxes of goods each day, 50 masks per box.

[Same Period] Founder of Hong Kong SmADt

This machine is a machine provided by our partner company, and we rent it out on a lease basis. We buy masks from different regions. The first batch was in Indonesia (coming), then we all have masks from India, masks from Egypt, and recently we have masks from Colombia, because our team will find masks in Global World, and only after trial Will be introduced (Hong Kong).

[Explanation] The reporter saw that in this machine in the center of the ring, masks were out of stock and only disinfectant was left. Zhang Huanran revealed that, in fact, the mask had been filled in the machine the night before and it was sold out within a few hours. At present, there are 13 veterinary vending machines in Hong Kong, 12 of which are located in residential communities, and this one in Central Centre can be purchased by street passersby. Zhang Huanran hopes that by the end of March, the number of vending machine installations will increase to 30.

[Same Period] Founder of Hong Kong SmADt

We will arrange some points in the private housing estate, so that people in the private housing estate can buy masks downstairs at any time. But we gradually saw a lot of shopping malls or we called public places that are interested in our machine. We are negotiating with some property management and placing them in more public places.

[Explanation] Zhang Huanran revealed that the price of the epidemic prevention equipment inside the vending machine is lower than the price on the outside market, so as to allow the citizens to enjoy the most affordable "purchase cost price" and not allow middlemen or speculators to "eat profits." For example, a box of masks sells for only HK $ 180 to HK $ 250, and a 500ml bottle of disinfectant is HK $ 83.

Now the vending machine can be paid by WeChat or Octopus. Zhang Huanran said that payment methods such as Alipay and HSBC Payme will be added in the future, and an intelligent queuing system will be added to prevent people from using the machine to buy speculation masks.

Reporter Zheng Xing reports from Hong Kong

Editor-in-chief: [Wang Kai]