Photo: Flickr: Tim Westwood

Just when you thought the news couldn't get any worse, turns out, we're now also facing a global condom shortage.

The world’s biggest producer, Karex Bhd has indicated they have been forced to shut down production as a result of the coronavirus and haven't made a single condom for over a week. Karex Bhd produces condoms for brands like Durex as well as its own line of specialty condoms.

China is another major condom producing country, also impacted by factory shutdowns. Global supply is expected to last another two months.

Karex Bhd has since been permitted to restart production but with only 50 per cent of its workforce, under a special exemption for critical industries.

“It will take time to jumpstart factories and we will struggle to keep up with demand at half capacity,” Chief Executive Goh Miah Kiat told Reuters.

“We are going to see a global shortage of condoms everywhere, which is going to be scary,” he said. “My concern is that for a lot of humanitarian programs deep down in Africa, the shortage will not just be two weeks or a month. That shortage can run into months.”

-with files from CTV News