Chinese Hoarding Flu Pills With Online Sales Surging 100-Fold
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Chinese citizens are stocking up on antiviral flu drugs, sending e-commerce sales volume up over 100-fold from a year ago, as a spike in infections triggers panic and hoarding following the country’s chaotic exit from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The medicine, sold under the generic name oseltamivir, saw sales volume surge to about 533,100 units in the first 13 days of March on the Chinese e-commerce platforms Taobao and Tmall, according to the analytics tracking site Liandanlu. The daily average volume jumped 129-fold from a year ago when aggressive Covid measures limited all types of infections and has nearly tripled from February’s already elevated levels.