As COVID-19 is back in the news with the emergence of the JN.1 variant, the demand for self-test kits has increased in Bengaluru. However, instead of selling these kits to the customers, pharmacies are redirecting them to hospitals to help with record keeping of positive cases.
A manager at a pharmacy on Brigade Road said that the demand for self-test kits was around 200 per day. He also said that most pharmacies were not maintaining that kind of stock. “There has been a notable uptick in the demand for self-test kits. But, if we encounter customers exhibiting COVID-19-like symptoms seeking medications, we are directing such individuals to nearby hospitals rather than dispensing medication directly,” he said.
Since the earlier waves of COVID-19, the government had mandated pharmacies to maintain records of the persons they sold the kit to and also details of the results of the test. After purchasing the kits, most customers do not come back to update the results, the pharmacists said.
