Bhubaneswar: Several industries involved in preparing mosquito repellents have now appealed to the government to consider these products as essential items during lockdown to prevent the spread of vector-borne diseases like dengue and malaria.
The industries say months like May and June make the population prone to such diseases. “Due to the current lockdown, only essential products are being sold which does not include solutions offering protection against mosquitoes. Thus, solutions like mosquito repellents, personal repellents, liquid vapourisers, must be brought under the purview of ‘essential goods’,” Sunil Kataria, CEO India and SAARC, Godrej Consumer Products Limited told Orissa POST.
He also added, “Indian households primarily depend on these products to safeguard themselves. Classifying them as essentials, will ensure an uninterrupted supply of household insecticides which will ensure their availability at kirana stores, medicals- chemists and e-commerce platforms till the lockdown is lifted completely.”
The companies working in the sector said that as per the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme, India witnessed 3,34,693 malaria cases in 2019. This year around 19,980 malaria cases were already reported upto February.
Also it says that nearly 95 per cent of India’s population lives in malaria endemic regions.