PHOTOGRAPHS show rows of bare shelves at Morrisons in Redditch as supermarkets across the country announce they are limiting how much food customers can buy to prevent stockpiling.
Pictures taken yesterday afternoon appear to show stocks running low in a number of aisles - mirroring reports across the country of panic buying due to paranoia surrounding the coronavirus outbreak.
Supermarkets have reported incidents of mass-purchasing of items such as antibacterial hand soap, dried pasta, toilet rolls, and long-life milk, prompting some stores to start placing restrictions on certain products.
READ MORE: Redditch will get a new food shop in the town centre
Tesco reported on Tuesday it had almost entirely run out of dried pasta online and has now introduced a five-item limit on products including dried pasta, antibacterial wipes, gels and sprays. Long-life milk is also limited.
Asda has limited hand sanitiser to two bottles per person, both in-store and online, but currently has no food restrictions.
Many of their antibacterial products are out of stock online.
Waitrose has restrictions that only apply to online shops, and on certain antibacterial soaps and wipes, while Morrisons has limited bleach and disinfectant to six per customer, toilet paper to four per customer, baby milk powder to four per customer, bar soap to four per customer, and hand sanitiser to two per customer.
The Government's chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallace, has stated there is no reason for the public in the UK to panic buy.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here