As Covid-19 cases start rising, demand for masks, sanitisers grows: Report

As worries rise over the spread of a new variant of Covid-19, demand for essentials like masks, sanitisers and health supplements has increased. The demand for some masks has doubled, a report in the Economic Times (ET) said. 

"Over the last two weeks, we have seen healthy growth in consumers buying Covid-19 essentials after being dormant for the past few months," a spokesperson of Zepto told ET. Another spokesperson from Tata 1mg said that there has been a rise in demand for masks and sanitisers. 

China has been seeing a high number of cases with some media reports pegging it to be as high as a million per day. Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the weekend asked Indians to be vigilant. Karnataka has made masks mandatory again. 

The demand for premium masks costing more than Rs 2,000 has been rising rapidly among travellers. 

Many companies like Reckitt Benckiser, the manufacturer of Dettol, have started to stock up the inventory at their retail outlets. 

The situation is in contrast with what it was just a month ago, when the demand for masks and sanitisers had dropped significantly. 

Global consumer research firm Kantar Worldpanel recently said that "hygiene categories did not sustain the gains they made during the pandemic, as the impact on consumer behaviour did not prove to be long-lasting".

Companies like ITC, Marico, Emami and Dabur had reduced the stocks for sanitisers, disinfectants, sprays and immunity-boosting products, the report added. 

"Demand for high-end masks is up by 300%, while it has increased by 100% for other types of masks in the last one week," Jai Dhar Gupta, chief executive at Nirvana Being, a mask manufacturing told ET.