Late one evening early this month, a car pulled over outside Novena Square. The driver got out and popped the boot open. Within moments, two of her workers removed four large cartons labelled "3-ply disposable face mask green" and carried them to their small traditional Chinese medicine shop facing Thomson Road.
Quickly, they laid out smaller boxes each containing 50 surgical masks on a small table outside their shop. A pedestrian who happened to be passing by asked for a box and handed over $35. A local pharmacy in another mall nearby had sold similar quantities for $12 a week earlier.
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