Prayargaj: Sale of Covid medicines, essentials drops by 80% as second wave ebbs

Prayargaj: The sale of Covid-19 medicines has fallen by 80% in the Sangam city in the past once week with the big decline in new cases and high recovery rate.

Traders in wholesale and retail medicine markets claimed a drastic fall in sale of Covid medicines like Remdesivir, Fabiflu, Ivermectin, Azithromycin, Doxycycline and others.

Prayag Chemist & Druggist Association (Retail) organising secretary Nikhil Malang told TOI, “The sale of Covid medicines has dropped by 70 to 80%. Medicine traders in wholesale and retail business who had placed orders when demand exceeded supply are now not getting as many customers.”

Sale of medicines grew exponentially between April 3 and April 26 when Covid cases were rising and hit peak, but started declining gradually after April 28 as infection spread was controlled.

“Some pharmacies which placed big orders in mid-April are now left with large stocks of medicines with few takers. There has also been a big decline in sale of pulse oximeter, nebulizer and vaporizers,” Nikhil added.

The demand of masks and sanitizers is still strong since people are now following precautionary measures earnestly, he added.

UP Chemist & Druggist Federation regional secretary Prem Agrawal, told TOI, “The sale of Covid medicines has declined across Prayagraj, Pratapgarh, Kaushambi and Fatehpur. There is hardly 10% sale of Fabiflu now in the city.”

Some traders had stocked medicines during Covid peak and now the demand has fallen, he added.

On Saturday, the city reported 81 new Covid cases while 286 patients recovered, bringing the number of active cases down under 1,500.

The effect of second wave was felt from April 6 when 1,084 cases were recorded in a day, the day tally breached the 1,500-mark on April 10 with 1,682 new cases being detected and then 2,324 on April 15.

The city saw Covid peak on April 17 with 2,436 cases in a day. The caseload then started dipping and came down to 1,874 on April 25.

The daily cases fell below 1,500 on April 28, when 1,493 cases were detected and below 1,000 with 984 cases on May 2.

The slide continued and only 96 cases were detected on May 19.