By Tuesday afternoon, many chemists said they were unable to meet the rising demand. (Express archive)

As coronavirus reached Delhi-NCR, pharmacies in the area reported an increase in demand of hand sanitisers and face masks. Chemists said the demand peaked by Tuesday afternoon, with many unable to meet it.

At Apollo Pharmacy in East Delhi’s Savita Vihar, a salesperson said, “People are buying five-six hand sanitisers each, and we have now run out of them. We’re also getting calls from residents around inquiring about the availability of masks, hand-wash and sanitisers.”

At Zenhill Affiliate Pharmacy in Gurgaon’s Galleria market, the salesperson said, “There has been a mad rush and stocks are over… We are asking all vendors to send us masks and sanitisers.”

At Jagdamba Medicos in Noida’s Atta Market too, it was the same story. A salesperson said, “We usually stock only two-three sanitisers and they were sold out today. We don’t have any masks as the supply has been negligible since the outbreak of coronavirus in China. We have placed orders but aren’t sure when we will get them.”

Saifi-ur-Rehman, who runs Al Shifa chemist at South Delhi’s Panchsheel Enclave, said he has placed an order of 20 N95 masks, which have already been sold in advance. “We sold 50-60 hand-sanitisers today and have placed an order for another 120… People are buying in panic,” he said.

At Ram Chemist in North Delhi’s Vijay Nagar, near Delhi University, a similar spike in demand was noticed. A salesperson there said, “This has been the main query since Tuesday afternoon… there is no stock left. Anyway, mask supply has been poor since the outbreak in China. We have ordered more and will hopefully get it soon.”