COVID-19 has reached over 35 million cases worldwide with daily case numbers increasing by thousands. Second wave has hit the world and more people are getting sick. More and more companies started production and manufacturing units of face masks. The supply has increased as global companies have started a competition of sales for face masks.
However, most of the companies produce non medical masks, just regular masks and mostly for fashion use. For instance, light blue color 3 layer masks are known to be surgical and medical types of masks, yet the black masks which recently hit the market are mostly non medical type of masks for style purposes.
Since more and more companies are producing masks including medical and non medical, the prices of the masks are falling down by Q4 2020. In the reseller market, 3M N95 1860 which reached over $6, in the difficult markets such as the Middle East, the price is now dropping to $3 and below. China is now offering production of N95 masks for under $2.
Once countries removed limitations and quarantine, people have not been truly following the guidelines and safety instructions of social distancing. As predicted this had led coronavirus to spread even more. According to Stankevicius International, COVID-19 can easily continue during 2021 as well until the very end, unless tough quarantine measures would apply.
In the United Arab Emirates for instance, wearing masks is strictly required else a heavy monetary penalty will be imposed. Regulations in terms of safety, in the United Arab Emirates, are followed pretty well in comparison to Europe and the US. Lately, Dubai has released a new regulation due to increased cases of COVID-19. The government is taking strong and quick actions against the virus and the community is following the rules. Unfortunately, we cannot see the same in other countries of the world.
Large corporations are now increasing orders for N95 face mask products for their employees. This shows continues demand for the medical equipment, however considering that supply has also increased over the last few months, the price has been affected heavily and now companies expect to purchase medical products at much lower price which for some companies which generated tons of profit in early Q1 and Q2 is bad news as they may experience a downfall in revenues during Q4 of 2020 and Q1 of 2021.
