NELLORE: On a day when Nellore woke up to the fact of one person testing positive for the COVID-19, there was a run on the stocks of protective masks, gloves and hand sanitisers.
The 24-year-old youth, who returned from Italy last week, has tested “‘positive” for COVID-19, health officials in Nellore said on Thursday. The youth, who was pursuing post-graduation studies in Italy, was admitted to the isolation ward of the GGH on Monday with COVID-19 symptoms. In the city, the availability of masks was patchy with many medical stores having run out of N95 stocks and the price of surgical masks varying according to the area. The threat of coronavirus has led to the rise in demand for protective masks and sanitisers in Nellore. And with rising demand, price of masks has shot up multiple times. People are rushing to medical stores to get their hands on either N95 or a simple surgical face mask to prevent themselves from contracting the virus.
“In view of the current situation in China, we have witnessed eight times and more of growth in demand for face masks to curb the spread of Coronavirus,” said Mahesh, a medical shop owner.