The'public mask' system will be abolished on the 12th of this year and converted into a market supply system.

The Food and Drug Administration announced on the 7th that as the mask production volume increased and the supply and demand stabilized, emergency corrections were made to abolish the public supply of masks for health use from the 12th.

Public masks were first introduced in the late February of Corona19, at the end of February, and the validity of the ground rules expired on the 11th.

When the public mask system is abolished, health masks can be freely purchased by a variety of retailers, including pharmacies, marts, convenience stores, and online.

Currently, you can only buy 10 cards per person per week.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety is planning to make it possible to purchase public masks from the current public mask sellers for three days from the 8th to 11th before the end of the system.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Affairs decided to maintain the current public supply system for surgical masks used by medical institutions and increase the rate of public shipments from 60% to 80%.

In addition, as the public supply for health masks that have been supplied to medical institutions is suspended, we plan to expand administrative support through the operation of the public-private council.

The splash mask is supplied as a market supply system, not as a public mask.

The government has decided to induce production and supply of masks for splash-blocking with prompt permission and support for opening up markets.

In addition, export regulations are maintained to maintain the stable supply and demand of masks, but the standards for calculating export allowances are improved.

Currently, exports of up to 30% of the day's production are permitted, but in the future, the'monthly total amount system' will be implemented to set monthly export allowances by company.

The total monthly exports should not exceed 50% of the average monthly production.

However, surgical and splash-blocking masks are not allowed to be exported for smooth domestic supply.

The government plans to promptly take public intervention measures, such as limiting purchase quantity and day of purchase, if an emergency such as a confrontation is expected to occur after the public supply of health masks is stopped.

(Photo = Yonhap News)