Virus outbreak fears spark panic buying in Bangladeshi capital

People wear masks as a protective measure after the first reported case of coronavirus in Dhaka, Bangladesh March 10, 2020. (REUTERS)

• Stores in the country are reporting shortages of masks, sanitizers, and other goods

DHAKA: Fears over an imminent coronavirus outbreak in Bangladesh have sparked panic buying in the capital Dhaka, it was claimed on Tuesday.
Although the country so far only has three recorded cases of the virus, pharmacies and retail stores were reporting shortages of face masks, sanitizers, and other goods.
Tahmina Sultana, a resident of Dhaka’s Dhanmondi area, said: “As a working woman, I have to go out every day, so I bought a lot of masks at 120 Bangladeshi taka ($1.4) each, which is much higher than the regular price. We don’t know what will happen next.”
Another city dweller, Abdul Motaleb, told Arab News that he had visited seven shops to buy sanitizer but all of them were out of stock.
To cope with demand, stores in the capital are planning to start rationing certain products soon.
“Due to panic buying, we’ve run out of stock. From next week, there will be rationing on these goods with each individual limited to buying two units of a product at a time,” said Sabbir Nasir, executive director of Shwapno, the largest supermarket chain in Dhaka.
Bangladeshi authorities were keeping a cautious eye on the situation.
Mohammad Mofizul Islam, director general of the Bangladeshi National Competition Commission (NCC), a government body tasked with protecting and monitoring market monopoly and mechanism, told Arab News: “It’s true that the markets have been abnormally destabilized from Sunday evening when the news of three people contracting the coronavirus broke.
“However, opportunistic traders will have to face a serious penalty if they are proved wrong and in violation of business ethics.”
He added that the NCC had “started collecting information on the annual demands of masks and sanitizers in the country and was scanning local producers and importers too.”
Meanwhile, to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus which has globally killed more than 4,000 people, the Bangladeshi Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) on Tuesday installed five new thermal scanners at international airports and entry points to the country.
“Now the country has six functional thermal scanners and we are expecting a few more from the World Health Organization (WHO),” said Dr. Shahnila Ferdousi, line director at the DGHS’ center for disease control.
Authorities have also asked all Bangladeshis returning from overseas to self-quarantine for 14 days.
“If they need to go out, they must wear masks regardless of the presence of symptoms of coronavirus,” Prof. Meerjady Sabrina Flora, director of the Institute of Epidemiology, Diseases Control and Research (IEDCR) in Bangladesh, told media on Tuesday.
Eight people are currently under observation after displaying symptoms of the virus, while four have been quarantined.
Earlier on Tuesday, an elderly Bangladeshi couple returning from Saudi Arabia were tested for symptoms at Dhaka International Airport and have since been placed under observation at the Kuwait Bangladesh Friendship Government Hospital in Dhaka.