KUALA LUMPUR, March 22 — The Pakatan Harapan coalition today questioned whether the government is doing all it can to ensure that the supplies of face mask in the country are sufficient.

In a statement today, the coalition welcomed the government’s initiative to review for a lower ceiling price for face mask following a public outcry after it was announced that the sought-after medical supply would see a price increased.

However, PH questions whether the government is doing all it can to ensure that the supply of face mask remains sufficient.

"Has the government implement measures including speeding up ‘government-to-government’ (G-to-G) discussions, facilitating commercial production and industry, and provide tax exemptions under the Customs Act 1967 for those who imports face masks for charitable purposes?” said the statement.

The coalition also pointed out several other medical supplies that are crucially needed by the people during this period such as sanitizers, Covid-19 test kits, personal protective equipment (PPE) and respiratory aid devices.

"We urge the government to publish from time to time the real numbers of the supplies. With such transparency, all government agencies including the public and private sector could streamline and focus resources towards domestic production and procurement from abroad,” said the statement.

On Friday, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Alexander Nanta Linggi announced that the new price for a three-ply face mask is now RM2 per unit, up from 80 cents previously

Malaysia is facing a shortage of face masks as the Covid-19 virus continues to spread.

Currently, the prices for one-ply earloop face masks, two-ply earloop face masks and N95 face masks remain the same.

The price of one-ply face masks is RM0.15 per unit, or RM7 per box; two-ply face masks is RM0.20 per unit, or RM10 per box; and N95 masks is RM6 per unit.

Yesterday, Senior Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof announced that the government will import 10 million face masks from China gradually in order to meet the domestic demand following the Covid-19 outbreak which has been increasing drastically.