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Condom Shortage Looms As Industries Shut In Wake Of LockDowns

BY Soko Directory Team · March 30, 2020 12:03 pm

If you thought you had already seen and imagined it all, well, adjust your shock absorbers as thanks to coronavirus, there is a looming condom crisis as World’s largest producer is now closed.

In every five condoms you’ve seen in the World, Malaysia’s Karex Bhd makes one of them and following a lockdown in Malaysia, the industry is no longer in operation as it has been forced to shut down in efforts to combat the spread of coronavirus.

In the last three weeks, Karex Bhd has not produced a single condom in any of its three factories following the lockdown imposed by the Malaysian government to halt the spread of coronavirus.

In a week, the three Malaysian Karex Bhd industries produce 100 million condoms meaning there is currently a shortfall of that number of condoms in the World.

Karex Bhd normally produces condom brands such as Durex which is an international brand.

Durex is supplied to state healthcare systems such as Britain’s NHS or distributed by aid programs such as the UN Population Fund to combat sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancy.

The company was given permission to restart production on Friday, but with only 50 percent of its workforce, under a special exemption for critical industries.

“It will take time to jumpstart factories and we will struggle to keep up with demand at half capacity,” Chief Executive Goh Miah Kiat said.

The coronavirus outbreak has led to the closure of many industries in the World and the effect could leave human beings exposed to other killers.

“We are going to see a global shortage of condoms everywhere, which is going to be scary,” Miah said.

“My concern is that for a lot of humanitarian programs deep down in Africa, the shortage will not just be two weeks or a month. That shortage can run into months,” Miah added revealing a bigger mess Africa need to prepare for.

Malaysia is currently reporting 2,161 coronavirus infections where 26 of those have died.

Malaysia’s lockdown is likely to remain in effect to the past 14th April 2020.

Other countries that host factories that produce condoms include China where the majority of companies were shut as the country combated a spread of the coronavirus that has resulted in thousands of deaths in the country.

Read Also Total Lockdown: What You In Need As Coronavirus Cases Rise In Kenya

Soko Directory is a Financial and Markets digital portal that tracks brands, listed firms on the NSE, SMEs and trend setters in the markets eco-system. Find us on Facebook: facebook.com/SokoDirectory and on Twitter: twitter.com/SokoDirectory

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