Flipkart halts services amid 21-day Coronavirus lockdown; Amazon prioritises essentials

Walmart-owned E-commerce platform Flipkart on Wednesday announced a temporary suspension of its services in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic and the 21-day lockdown announced to prevent its spread. The company announced the news in a message on its e-retail website and within its app. The company, has, however, promised that it will be resuming its services soon, although a date is yet to be announced.

"Hello Fellow Indians, We are temporarily suspending our services. Your needs have always been our priority and our promise is that we will be back to serve you, as soon as possible," the message read. "These are difficult times, times like no other. Never before, have communities stayed apart to stay safe! Never before, has being at home meant helping the nation!" it added.

Meanwhile, clothing website Myntra, which is a part of the Flipkart group has also announced that it is "temporarily not accepting any new orders." The company also urged all Indians to stay inside their homes during the 21-day lockdown.

Amazon prioritises essentials

Flipkart's move follows an announcement by Amazon India wherein the company said that it was temporarily halting the sales of all non-essential products in India in order to prioritise the customers’ needs at a time when the country was in a state of lockdown.

“To serve our customers’ most urgent needs while also ensuring the safety of our employees, we are temporarily prioritizing our available fulfilment and logistics capacity to serve products that are currently critical for our customers such as Household Staples, Packaged Food, Health Care, Hygiene, Personal safety and other high priority products. This also means that we have to temporarily stop taking orders and disable shipments for lower-priority products,” Amazon wrote in a blog post.

According to the official guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, all commercials and private establishments will be closed down with a few exceptions. Under these exceptions, "Delivery of all essential goods including food, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment through E-commerce" is permitted by the Government. Here is the official notification:

This comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced a 21-day lockdown in the entire country effective from midnight to deal with the spread of coronavirus, saying that "social distancing" is the only option to deal with the disease, which spreads rapidly. 

'There is absolutely no need to panic'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday urged people not to panic and assured citizens that there will be no shortage of essential commodities and medicines during the 21-day lockdown period. "There is absolutely no need to panic," PM Modi said in a tweet "Essential commodities, medicines etc. would be available. Centre and various state governments will work in close coordination to ensure this," he said.

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Advising people not to hoard essential items, PM Modi said, "By converging around shops, you are risking the spread of Covid-19. No panic buying, please. Please stay indoors."  According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), India has reported about 536 confirmed positive cases of COVID-19. Eleven people have died so far due to the deadly virus.

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(With ANI inputs)