The coronavirus pandemic has killed 26,000 people, with Europe accounting for most of the deaths, according to an AFP tally based on official statistics.Europe was the worst-hit continent with 17,314 fatalities. Italy had the highest number of deaths in the world at 9,134 followed by Spain (4,858) and China (3,292).
Veering between social distancing and close cohabitation, many thousands of couples are rediscovering each other as cities and towns across the country go into lockdown. With this increased intimacy, many pharmacies as well as e-commerce sites are reporting rising sales of condoms and contraceptive pills while some experts are already looking at a coronavirus boom in December 2020 and an entire generation of quaranteens in 2033.
“Our stock of masks is over. Many people are demanding chloroquin and Vitamin C. And the sale of condoms has also increased,” said Shah Nawaz of Loyal Pharmacy in south Delhi’s New Friend’s Colony area.
A staffer at another pharmacy in central Delhi who did not wish to be named echoed Nawaz. He said while many people are stocking up on hydroxychloroquine sulfate as a possible drug against COVID-19, the sale of condoms has also increased quite a bit.
Sources at a leading e-commerce site also said sales of condoms and contraceptives have jumped online.
“In times of war and epidemics, intimacy levels go up among sexual partners,” said Rajiv Mehta, consultant psychiatrist at Delhi’s Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH).
Coronavirus has already caused tens of thousands of businesses to close their doors, and now, the virus is coming after the condom factories. That’s right, first no loo roll or pasta, and now no sex (unless you have access to other birth control measures, that is).
For the past week, the world’s biggest condom manufacturer, Karex Bhd in Malaysia – which makes one of every five condoms used across the globe – has been forced to close up shop. Not a single condom has been produced by the company’s three factories. With COVID-19 spreading at a rapid rate, and Malaysia suffering the worst in southeast Asia with 2,161 infections and 26 deaths so far, the government has, similarly to the UK, decided to impose a lockdown.
Post Your Comments