Why are people panic buying toilet paper, handwash, and pasta?
CORONAVIRUS has reached the UK with at least 2,626 cases confirmed across Great Britain.
The threat of coronavirus infection is causing panic among the public with some supermarkets running out of toilet paper and other items.
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Why are people panic-buying toilet paper?
People are panic-buying toilet paper as fears grow over coronavirus spreading across Britain.
With the threat of infection growing, shoppers are looking to stockpile certain items such as toilet paper in case they run out in shops.
The panic is likely driven by fears over being forced into quarantine or self-isolation at home for 14 days and running short on essentials.
This kind of panic-buying behaviour began in the Chinese city of Wuhan where the coronavirus started and took off in Australia with supermarkets being forced to ration toilet paper sales as customers stocked up.
What has the government said about stockpiling?
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has insisted that medical advice does not point to any need for the public to stockpile.
“We’ve had no advice from the scientific advisers or medical officers that there’s any need for people to buy stuff in," he said.
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden agreed, adding that the government was in constant contact with the big retailers.
"There is absolutely no need for anybody to stockpile or anything like that," Dowden told the BBC.
"We are confident that supermarkets have the supply chains necessary to keep shelves stocked for people.
"The number one thing is to ensure we work with the supermarkets and others to ensure that their supply chains are there, that the shelves keep being restocked as people purchase things.
"And secondly, to reassure people that there is really no need to [stockpile]. We are confident the supermarket supply chains can keep refilling the shelves.
"I understand people's concerns if they go to the supermarket and see that… products are not there. But there really is no need to buy things in volume."
Are supermarkets rationing toilet paper?
Tesco and ASDA are among the retailers restricting sales of toilet paper after shoppers reported shortages at local stores.
The two popular supermarket stores are limiting shoppers to buying no more than three of each product, while they - along with Sainsburys - also limited customers to two of essential products like handwash and toilet rolls.
A spokesperson for Tesco said: “We know there’s demand for certain products at the moment and we’re working really hard to maintain availability of those to help customers.
"We’ve taken a commonsense approach to make sure everyone can access essentials.”
Ocado was rationing toilet rolls by the evening of Sunday 8 March, with customers able to buy a maximum of two 12-roll packs of Andrex.
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What other items are shoppers bulk-buying?
Shoppers are also panic-buying various other items, longer-lasting goods such as pasta, rice, anti-bacterial wipes, hand sanitiser, children's medications, UHT milk and some tinned vegetables.
According to a survey from Retail Economics, as many as one in 10 UK consumers are stockpiling goods, based on a sample of 2,000 shoppers.