China’s mask makers cancel holidays, jack up wages

“From what I have heard, the mask shortage is much, much more severe than what the public knows, ” said Cao Jun, general manager of mask manufacturer Lanhine, which has a factory in east China’s Ningbo city.

BEIJING: Chinese face mask manufacturers are reopening factories shut for a national holiday, promising workers up to four times their normal wages as consumers emptied out stock in stores in a race to protect themselves from the new coronavirus infection.

The flu-like virus, which has killed 17 and infected nearly 600, is expected to spread further as hundreds of millions of Chinese travel domestically and abroad during the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, a time when factories across China usually close.