(Photo: Chanat Katanyu)Finance Minister Uttama Savanayana apologised over erroneous information by the Customs Department regarding face mask exports and has asked the agency to rectify the matter. Mr Whichai said since Feb 5, manufacturers have requested special permission to export 53 million masks, 41 million of which have been barred from being sent overseas. A total of 12 million masks were given clearance because they were not designed for prevention of Covid-19 transmission or copyrighted. Meanwhile, Mr Uttama said he also told the Customs Department, which is supervised by the Finance Ministry, to fix the issue and communicate correct information. Also on Thursday, state-run hospitals, which have been hit by a severe shortage of face masks, received 1.4 million masks from the Commerce Ministry between March 6-11.

Source: Bangkok Post March 13, 2020 02:47 UTC