Demand for Health & Safety Products at a Fever Pitch

With the number of coronavirus cases around the world continuing to climb, demand for preventive products has skyrocketed. Critical items such as hand sanitizers, masks and gloves are flying off the shelves as people continue to stock up amid the worsening scenario.

Medical, health and safety products are currently in short supply amid the pandemic that has so far claimed more than 42,000 lives and infected more than 850,000 people globally. Notably, outbreak in the United States, Italy, Spain, Germany and France has worsened over the past several days. It has rattled global stock markets on concerns over broader economic impacts.

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, an infectious disease epidemiologist with the World Health Organization (WHO), recently said that the world is facing a significant shortage of PPE including masks, respirators, gloves, gowns and face shields for frontline health workers.

The WHO, last month, had called on manufacturers to increase production of PPE by 40% to meet the rising global demand. The WHO is concerned that limited access to PPE supplies has left frontline workers “dangerously ill-equipped” to care for COVID-19 patients. It has urged governments to provide incentives to the industry for ramping up production of PPE and other medical supplies.

While demand for PPE first spiked in China, where the outbreak originated, it rapidly surged across the world to an unprecedented level with the spread of the lethal virus.