Mysuru/Mysore: Amid the Coronavirus alarm, the sale of face masks has soared in city, triggering shortage in supply of the protective gear and increase in its price. Fear and rumours of coronavirus have resulted in a sudden jump in sale of face masks in city.

Most medical stores have run out of face masks and the owners have no idea as to when the next delivery of masks would arrive.

City’s well-known pharmacist, N. Raghavan of Raghulal and Co, speaking to Star of Mysore this morning said that people were not only buying the face masks out of fear but were also buying them to take extra precautions while travelling as air-borne diseases spread easily. Factories and other workplaces where there are lot of workers were buying masks in bulk, he added. Raghavan said that earlier, he used to sell 50 masks a month and now, he is selling almost 100 masks a day. 

Stating that there is a huge demand for both disposable and reusable face masks amidst shortage of supply and increase in supply rate, Raghavan said that the supply rate of a disposable mask which used to cost Rs.1.25 is now supplied to them at Rs. 4 per mask and the reusable N-95 mask which was Rs.15 per mask is now being supplied at Rs. 40 per mask. Even the sale of hand sanitizers has increased by 40 percent.