Coronavirus impact | Numbers show these products are riding the 'lockdown crest'

These products would have remained unnoticed or neglected during a normal life cycle, but are seeing increased traction during this period.

Moneycontrol News

April 28, 2020 / 07:06 PM IST

Representative Image (REUTERS/Amit Dave)

The COVID-19 outbreak has brought about a massive change in the way people behave and carry out their daily chores. Today is the thirty-fifth day of India's nationwide lockdown, which will be in place till May 3 and may be extended further.

While novel coronavirus is adversely impacting certain sectors, it is emerging beneficial for some products and sectors. These products would have remained unnoticed or neglected during a normal life cycle, but are seeing increased traction during this period.

Moneycontrol has gathered some interesting data points on products that have seen a major spike in buyer interest.

Track this blog for latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak

Let us take a look at the change in the online interest of some select products in the past 30 days. Data available on Glimpse shows that hydroxychloroquine, yeast for bread, isolation gowns, dumbbells, and cigarette delivery generated a lot of interest.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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