Man claims his new mask turned yellow after it was washed

Singapore — New, improved reusable face masks were issued on Tuesday (May 26) in the third such exercise since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.

About a million of the masks were collected from community clubs, RC centres and from vending machines. The instructions are to rinse the mask, not to wring it out, and to hang it out to dry.

In a post on a popular Facebook group, one Mr Tan wrote that, the mask turned yellow after it was washed.

“Yesterday i went to CC to collect the mask by using mask collection machine.
i washed with clean water only. My mask turns Yellowish after rinse,” he wrote.

He said that, as Singapore was at a critical stage in its battle against the Covid-19 virus, it was not right for people to be provided with such masks.

Some people, commenting on his post, offered explanations for the change in colour. Others said their masks, too, had turned yellow.

One person offered a plausible explanation as to why the masks turned yellow.

It had to do with the material and the use of too much bleach or too much detergent or fabric softener and whether it was rinsed well.

Meanwhile, face masks were also in the news, together with other cargo, when dozens of containers fell off a Singapore-flagged vessel on Thursday during a storm off eastern Australia. The ship had been en route from Ningbo in China to Melbourne. The other cargo included appliances, construction materials and medical supplies.

The Australian authorities are investigating the circumstances of the incident.

A number of local residents posted online about surgical masks and plastic containers washing up on beaches and along the coast near Sydney in New South Wales. /TISG