DIY virus protection: Hong Kongers making own masks amid shortages

Hong Kong: With chronic face mask shortages in the midst of a virus outbreak, Hong Kongers have started making their own - with a pop-up production line and seamstresses churning them out on sewing machines.

In one of the most densely populated cities on earth, face masks have become hot property as people scramble for protection against the new deadly coronavirus.

Long queues - sometimes thousands strong - routinely crop up outside pharmacies when supplies are in. Some are turning to DIY solutions - albeit of questionable quality.

While Hong Kong's economy reels, business has been brisk on one street in the working-class Sham Shui Po district that boasts many fabric and tailoring shops.

A colourful array of cloth masks hangs outside many of the cramped storefronts as shoppers haggle over the din of whirring sewing machines.

Elase Wong, a tailor, said she was giving away her face mask sewing design. "Some people couldn't buy any masks... So if they can make them themselves, that would be great," said Wong. "I hope everyone can achieve self-sufficiency."

The cost of masks has skyrocketed with scarcity and the government resisting price controls or rationing, as in nearby Macau and Taiwan.

A set of 50 simple surgical masks can sell for up to HK$300 ($40), while the top of the range N95 variety is going for as high as HK$1,800 a box.

Since SARS, which Beijing initially covered up, Hong Kongers have embraced higher communal hygiene standards and face masks have long been a common sight, especially during the winter flu season.

Joseph Kwan, a public health expert from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, said widespread mask use during SARS also lowered cases of the common cold that year.

In a tightly packed city like Hong Kong, new viruses will "spread like wildfire if nobody wears a mask", he said. "It would be a public health disaster".

A newly-completed mask made out of patterned material at a shop in Hong Kong.