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DEMAND for masks has skyrocketed at some central Victorian pharmacies, after the government recommendations that regional Victorians wear face covering.
Heathcote, Bendigo and Castlemaine pharmacies all reported huge increases in demand for face masks in the past few weeks.
Regional Victorians have been asked to wear masks in situations where they cannot socially distance.
Masks have been made compulsory for people outside their homes in metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire.
OTHER NEWS:
Heathcote Pharmacy pharmacist Stacey Mannix said demand for masks had skyrocketed over the past few days.
The pharmacy sold out of 10 packs of masks on Monday morning - with individual masks still available - but has since been able to secure more stock.
The pharmacy has sold more than 1300 reusable masks in total during July, according to sales figures.
Ms Mannix said she was seeing a lot more people in Heathcote wearing masks, despite not being in the restricted areas.
She said lots of people were asking for reusable masks, which the pharmacy hoped to secure by the end of July.
Castlemaine's McKenzie Davey Pharmacy manager Lizzie Chapman said demand for masks had been "insane".
"Every time masks come in they're straight out the door again," she said.
"We've been selling them either by the box of 50, or we've been breaking them up into smaller packs."
In the past few days they'd sold hundreds and hundreds of masks, Ms Chapman said.
In previous years the pharmacy would sell maybe a box of 50 masks over a few months period, she said.
A representative of Vanstan's Pharmacy in Bendigo also said mask sales had been very high.
Earlier
FACE mask purchases at Woolworths supermarkets will be limited to one pack per customer, after the Victorian government made masks mandatory for those in restricted areas.
Woolworths introduced the one pack per customer limit on Monday morning, following a surge in demand over the weekend.
Premier Daniel Andrews announced on Monday that all people in metropolitan Melbourne at the Mitchell shire.
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He asked residents of unrestricted areas such as central Victoria to wear masks in public if they are in situations where they cannot socially distance.
The Department of Health and Human Services has released instructions about how to make a cloth mask.
Coles has also applied purchase limits to masks and hand sanitiser, but these are confined to metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire.
More to come.
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