Two weeks ago, drugstores throughout the capital were crowded with people buying face masks, disinfectant and Chinese medicine that is thought to be effective in preventing SARS.

"In mid-April, it was normal to see over 100 customers queuing in front of my shop every morning before we started business," recalled Wang Mingren, vice-manager of the Baitasi Medicine Store.

But Beijing residents are now finding it much easier to cope with the outbreak, with the number of new cases dropping on a daily basis and as a result of the effective preventative measures which have been adopted.

As a result, the customer flow at Wang's pharmacy is now nearly equal to the figure of the same period last year.

Although it was a boom time for drug stores last month, the situation is not that simple.

Prestigious traditional Chinese medicine store, the Beijing-based Tongrentang sold 2 million sets of Chinese herbal medicine from April 10 to April 26.

Containing eight herbs, the recipe was recommended by experts last month to help prevent SARS. But this medicine is not being produced any more as a result of falling demand.

The listed Tongrentang Stock Company issued a notice last week saying that the sales of SARS preventive medicines have had "no significant impact" on the production and operating of the company.

Jin Yongnian, Tongrentang's office director told China Daily that they will lose 1 yuan (12 cents) when selling one bottle of medicine made from the recipe.

"The reason is that the aggregate cost increased a lot, but the municipal government set a ceiling on prices of the medicines," Jin said.

"Price of traditional medicine materials soared that time, by four times to even 10 times to the normal figure," he said.

Jin admitted that the total profits of Tongrentang increased last month, but did not give the figures.

(China Daily May 19, 2003)