Japanese businesses making and losing money due to swine flu

May 20, 2009, 7:44 GMT

   Tokyo - As the number of swine-flu infections rises daily in Japan, some businesses are raking in the money while others are feeling the pinch.

   The almost 200 swine flu infections confirmed in Japan have led to booming demand for face masks, anti-septic mouthwash and hand-washing agent, the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper said Wednesday.

   A major Japanese drugstore received about 80 times the usual orders for face masks in two days after the first domestic case of the H1N1 strain of influenza was confirmed in the western city of Kobe on Saturday.

   Orders for masks, especially in the western region where the outbreak is centred, surged to 210 times the usual level, forcing Sugi Pharmacy Co to decline orders from corporate clients and limit sales to two pieces per consumer, a drugstore spokesman said.

   The number of calls regarding swine flu and orders for face masks went up from 50 a day to 10,000 a day, according to Japan Vilene Co.

   Although not all enquiries lead to purchases, a company spokesman said orders for face masks have 'dramatically increased' since Monday.

   Chugai Pharma Co, which has the license to sell the antiviral drug Tamiflu in Japan, saw its shares jump 7 per cent after the swine-flu outbreak. On the internet, however, the price of Tamiflu quadrupled, media reports said.

   Meanwhile, karaoke bars are hurting for having to send young customers back home after more than 4,000 schools suspended classes and club activities in Osaka and Hyogo prefectures to prevent the further spread of the virus.

   Karaoke stores began checking customers' identification cards and decided to refuse entry to students whose schools are temporarily closed.

   'This affects our sales but there is no other way to prevent the virus from spreading,' said a store manager quoted by Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper.

   Thousands of pop-music fans are also being deprived of their fun outings after an event-management company, Avex Management, decided to cancel six major concerts in the western region, affecting more than 40,000 people.

   While students are bored with nothing to do, board of education personnel and teachers remain busy wandering the streets to encourage loitering students to go home.

   It's not only teachers, students or the government who wish Japan's hyper-reaction to swine flu would soon end.

   Working mothers are having to find alternative carers for their young children after day-care centres closed.