(Yicai Global) Dec. 22 -- Stocks of fingertip pulse oximeters, devices that estimate the amount of oxygen in the blood, soon ran out in China after the country brought in a new Covid-19 prevention and control policy.

Many offline retailers have no oximeters and have ordered more, they told Yicai Global, but the new products are not expected to be delivered for three to four weeks. They have also been out of stock on medical products platform 111.com.cn since Dec. 13. Sales soared nearly six-fold this month from November.

Households with members over the age of 80 should have a fingertip pulse oximeter to monitor the risk of severe illness, especially silent hypoxia, if an elderly person becomes infected with the omicron variant of Covid-19, Zhang Wenhong, director of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Shanghai’s Huashan Hospital, said yesterday.

Oximeters can measure the oxygen saturation in blood. Fingertip pulse oximeters have become a popular home medical device due to their convenience and relatively low price of about CNY100 (USD14.30). Only four listed companies -- Contec Medical Systems, Guangdong Biolight Meditech, Jiangsu Yuyue Medical Equipment and Supply, and Cofoe Medical Technology -- make them.

“We’ve been working overtime recently due to the strong demand for Covid-19-related medical products,” a source at Cofoe Medical told Yicai Global.

Contec Medical is adjusting production lines to expand capacity, but output may not catch up with rapidly-growing demand in the short term, a source from the board secretary's office said.

Revenue from oximeter sales accounted for nearly half of Contec Medical's total, the person added, noting that it is easy for the company to expand production capacity, given its core technologies and sufficient stocks of raw materials, adding that new industry players will face technical and market barriers.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione