Youngsters step up to make face shields

The novel coronavirus outbreak has opened a new market for face shields as protective gear for doctors, policemen, and other frontline workers and a bunch of 20-year-olds from Mumbai has taken the lead in designing and manufacturing them. Many 3D printing companies donate to public hospitals, police stations, other frontline workers.

The novel coronavirus outbreak has opened a new market for face shields as protective gear for doctors, policemen, and other frontline workers and a bunch of 20-year-olds from Mumbai has taken the lead in designing and manufacturing them.

Arjun and Parth Panchal, co-founders of 3D printer manufacturer Boson Machines, are providing healthcare professionals face shields to keep them safe from contracting the infection from patients.

Face shields are physical barriers meant to protect the facial area from splashes and spatter of body fluids. However, they cannot be used alone and are worn over the face masks for additional protection. With the help of Dr Swapneil Parikh, Boson Machines connected with experts and doctors who helped in curating and designing the product.

Arjun says that the current capacity of the manufacturing startup is 500-800 shields per day, but can scale it to 4,000 pieces in full capacity. However, this too is not enough to meet the current demand. “There are 20,000 face shields being used by doctors across India. The total requirement for the shields is more than four lakh in Maharashtra alone,” he added.

The shields are priced at Rs 150 a piece but Arjun hopes to provide them for free to government hospitals. “We have kept the standard rate across the country. For all private hospitals, we are giving it out at Rs 150 per piece while for government hospitals, we are trying to cater to them for free but we are in need of a lot of funds,” he says.

Once doctors use the mask, they will need to throw it after completing the treatment and replace it with a new one.

The startup is facing problems in delivering the products due to logistical skirmishes amid lockdown. In order to ensure availability, Arjun himself has delivered the shields to local hospitals in Mumbai.

Indian online retailers set to lose $1 billion amid COVID-19 lockdown

India’s largest E-retail platforms like Amazon and Flipkart have suffered an estimated loss of at least $1 billion in gross sales due to 21-day lockdown to control the novel Coronavirus.

India’s largest e-retail platforms like Amazon and Flipkart have suffered an estimated loss of at least $1 billion in gross sales due to 21-day lockdown to control the novel Coronavirus.

Despite online grocery seeing a spike in orders, it constitutes only about 10% of overall sales for e-retailers.

According to data compiled by American market research and advisory firm Forrester, the e-commerce sector in India, which is dominated by mobile phones, electronics, and fashion, are already estimated to have lost $400 million worth of sales during the last week starting with the ‘junta curfew’ on 22 March.

Several businesses, including online retail, came to a grinding halt after PM Narendra Modi last week announced a total lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Satish Meena, a senior forecast analyst at Forrester, said India’s e-commerce sector will continue to grapple with low demand and a disrupted supply in the near future.

Forrester now predicts a tepid 5% growth for the e-commerce sector in India in 2020 compared to an earlier estimate of 26% growth. The sector had grown 28% in 2019 to touch $32 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) – a term used to indicate the total value of merchandise sold. Interestingly, the grocery sector, which is currently in high demand on online platforms, accounted for just 6% of the overall GMV in 2019.

Many e-retailers across segments, including Myntra and Firstcry, are not taking any new orders. Meanwhile, after multiple complaints of disruptions in operation by e-tailers and e-grocers, the government had allowed transportation of goods without the essential and non-essential distinction during the 21-day coronavirus lockdown.