Home » World » Consumer guards consider 49% of respirators and 22% of hygienic masks to be non-compliant in monitoring

Consumer guards consider 49% of respirators and 22% of hygienic masks to be non-compliant in monitoring

With the Covid-19 pandemic caused by the new coronavirus disease, the demand for basic necessities, disinfectants and face masks increased rapidly both in the world and in Latvia. In order to determine the availability and prices of these goods at points of sale as well as in online stores, Consumer rights Protection centre (PTAC) started monitoring goods in these three product groups as of March this year.

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From 5 May this year, the CRPC monitored the availability and price of face masks in 230 sales outlets – 59% in sales outlets and 41% in online stores, the portal “Delfi” found out the CRPC.

A total of 547 face masks were monitored, of which 32% were respirators, 53% hygiene masks, 11% medical masks and 4% face shields.

During the monitoring, it was found that all types of face masks are commercially available, but the availability of medical face masks was relatively lower. The offer of hygienic masks was especially wide, including various fabric masks made by home manufacturers.

49% of tested respirators and 22% of hygienic masks were found to be non-compliant.

On the other hand, the prices for face masks have not increased in this period, on the contrary – the prices for medical masks and hygiene masks have decreased compared to the beginning of monitoring, the CRPC concluded.

The average price of respirators at the beginning of the monitoring was 5.85 euros per unit, while at the end of May it had dropped to 5.28 euros. There is also a significant price reduction for hygiene masks from 2.75 euros per mask to 1.97 euros and for medical masks – from 1.20 euros to 0.74 euros.

CRPC invites consumers to continue to compare their prices at different points of sale and buy the most advantageous one before buying different goods – consumer goods, disinfectants or face masks!

Given the great need for disinfectants, monitoring of these products was also launched on 7 April this year, recording prices at a total of 31 outlets, covering the largest grocery chains, major construction stores, as well as petrol stations and pharmacy chains.

A total of 144 commercially available disinfectants have been identified at points of sale, of which only six have been identified.

Despite some price increases, in general during the monitoring period there is a significant increase in the supply of disinfectants and a decrease in the average price per liter – on average from 30.98 euros per liter to 22.38 euros per liter, or 28% decrease from the initial price.

If at the beginning of monitoring disinfectants were not available in many places, then their range increased every week, especially with the increase of the range of disinfectants produced in Latvia.

In general, the CRPC has concluded during price monitoring that the prices of consumer goods have practically not changed, the prices and availability of disinfectants have stabilized, in the field of face masks and respirators the availability of goods in several categories is still limited, but prices are stable.

On March 9, the CRPC started monitoring the prices of basic necessities in the four largest consumer goods online stores, and on March 19 – in the seven largest retail chains.

In total, food and industrial goods prices for 69 goods traded were recorded every week at Internet outlets, while prices for 209 goods were recorded at points of sale (for example, rice, buckwheat, pasta, etc.).

Evaluating the collected data, from March 9 to June 5 of this year, the CRPC concluded that prices have not changed in 45% of cases, shares applied to goods in 43% of cases, the price of goods has decreased in 4% of cases and the price has increased in 7% of cases.

The most frequent increase in prices was observed for buckwheat and rice of a particular producer, which was related to the increase in producer prices for these products before the emergency.

The monitoring revealed that basic necessities are available and, if a good is not offered, it is available to buy similar goods from other manufacturers.

It has already been reported that an emergency situation was declared on 12 March in connection with the spread of Covid-19 throughout Latvia, which ended on 9 June.

On what restrictions should be observed in Latvia after the end of the emergency situation, it is possible find out in this article.

World Health Organization (WHO) has named the new coronavirus disease. It is called Covid-19. The name is made up of the words “corona”, “virus” and “disease”. The number 19, in turn, indicates the year in which the outbreak of the virus began. The first reports of the virus outbreak appeared on December 31 last year.

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