Health officials in France Wednesday raised the alarm that about 8,300 masks and 1,200 bottles of sanitising health gel have been stolen from Paris hospitals.
Another 2,000 surgical masks have disappeared from a hospital in Marseilles.
The French government says it will take legal measures to rein in the soaring prices being demanded for bottles of hand gel.
Adding that anyone wanting to buy masks from a pharmacy will have to get a medical prescription.
