Hand sanitisers fly off the shelves in panic shopping

A security guard gives hand sanitiser to visitors as precaution measures at an entrance of building in Nairobi on March 13th, 2020. PHOTO | AFP

What you need to know:

  • Naivas Supermarket on Kenyatta Avenue had depleted its stock of sanitisers by 10am.

  • An attendant said the situation was replicated in all their branches in the CBD.

Panicky Kenyans moved swiftly to stock up hand sanitisers as soon as the government announced the first case of coronavirus in the country yesterday.

Minutes after Health CS Mutahi Kagwe confirmed the case, major supermarkets across the city ran out of stock of the product.

Tissue papers, maize flour, milk and sugar were the other household goods that were bought in bulk.

Naivas Supermarket on Kenyatta Avenue had depleted its stock of sanitisers by 10am. An attendant said the situation was replicated in all their branches in the CBD.

Washing hands is touted as an effective way of dealing with the spread of the virus. The use of a sanitiser is only encouraged where one cannot access running water and liquid soap.

“Hand sanitisers were all bought by 10am. It is the same story in all the other Naivas stores. Our supplier has not been able to deliver the product due to the high demand,” said the staff.

At Tuskys supermarket, the situation was the same. Attendants whose work is to arrange items on shelves were tasked with delivering the disappointing news, “The supermarket has run out of hand sanitisers”.

“When we opened, everyone was buying hand sanitisers, customers were not picking just one or two but a whole bunch of them. One customer just stretched his hand inside the shelf and pushed all the hand sanitisers into his cart and said he would count them at the counter,” said Jane Maina, an attendant.

Ishmael was among Kenyans in the supermarket who were frantically looking for a hand sanitiser at the time we did a spot check. He said he had been to more than five supermarkets but was unable to get one.

Friday, Tuskys Group CEO Dan Githua dispelled fears that commodity prices would rise or that some commodities would be out of stock.

DN body text: “As a responsible corporate citizen, we wish to assure the public that the panic is unnecessary,” he said in a statement.

“We have engaged with our suppliers and received firm commitments that we shall continue receiving the supplies at the standard prices,” Mr Githua added.