Allowing shops to open in red zones raises coronavirus risk, permit online sale: IAMAI

Demanding a level-playing field for e-commerce companies, internet and mobile companies body IAMAI on Thursday said the opening of standalone shops in the red zones raises the transmission risk of coronavirus as these are creating crowding for certain commodities.

The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) requested the government to allow the sale of non-essential items as well by e-commerce players in the red zones to address pent-up demand for several items.

The government in its guidelines for the third phase of lockdown from May 4 allowed the opening of standalone shops in the red zones but has restricted operations of e-commerce companies to the sale of essential items only.

"IAMAI has appealed to the government to provide a level-playing field to e-commerce companies in the red zones," the industry body said in a statement.

It said that the opening of standalone shops has created additional operational issues which are not good from a public health perspective.

"Firstly, it is already being observed that such openings are creating massive crowding for certain kinds of commodities, that raises the risk of contagion. This is bound to happen given that after over 40 days of confinement, households have a pent-up demand for several items that go beyond the essential list allowed till date by the government," the IAMAI said.

The industry body has demanded the government to allow priority products like kitchenware essentials, small electrical appliances, summer products like coolers, spares of all machines, clothing of certain types, work from home essentials like laptops, routers, chargers, mobiles etc for delivery by e-commerce services in the red and containment zones as well.

"Going forward, the risk of contagion is expected to rise as further establishments are allowed to operate 'physically' without e-Commerce catering to part of the pent-up demand," IAMAI said.

While the government has mandated social distancing during the purchase at shops, several pictures have appeared on social media showing people flouting the norms.

The industry body has also requested to allow priority products in the periphery of containment zones or housing clusters within large containment zones by e-commerce companies.