Posh shoppers are stockpiling PROSECCO as coronavirus spreads across Britain
POSH shoppers are stockpiling bottles of PROSECCO as coronavirus panic-buying spreads across Britain.
Shelves of the fizz in Tesco in Leatherhead, Surrey, were left completely empty as customers made sure they had enough to last in case of a lockdown.
But while shoppers in the leafy-commuter belt are stocking up on bubbles - across the country Brits are on super-market sweeps for toilet roll, kitchen roll, cleaning products, hand gel and flour.
Panic-buying has reached new levels in Austrailia where a shopper in a branch of Woolworths allegedly pulled out a knife on another customer during an argument about toilet paper.
But back in the UK Twitter users joked they would rather stock up on Prosecco than anything else if they were forced to self-isolate for two weeks.
Randy Lawford wrote: “What three things are you stockpiling for #coronavirus? 1) Double Gloucester 2) Prosecco 3) Duck bleach.”
Kelly added: “So gargling with prosecco will help keep the #coronavirus away right? Asking for a friend.”
Mari$a wrote: “My dads away for a coronavirus shop in case we need to self isolate ourselves for 2 weeks, with 14 bottles of prosecco on his shopping list.”
Vania Margene Rheault tweeted: “I’ve heard Prosecco has coronavirus-fighting properties. I would rather stock up on that!”
Juliet James tweeted: “Crust pizzas, and all the Prosecco that we can possibly carry, so that when we get quarantined we won’t mind it even slightly. THOSE are supplies.”
SUPERMARKET SWEEP
Fear of quarantining over coronavirus – which has now been contracted by 163 Brits, killing two - has seen shops sell out of household essentials.
Health experts have advised people buy necessary supplies to last them two weeks in case they do have to self-isolate.
Some shops have already started to run out of hand sanitiser and face masks, while others have limited the number of hand gels to two per customer.
Sales of hand sanitiser have jumped 225 per cent in February over fears of the outbreak.
Shoppers have also spotted hand sanitiser which costs 50p in Lidl for sale on eBay for £40.
Ocado has warned of delivery delays due to an influx of "particularly large orders" amid coronavirus fears.
One shopper wrote on Twitter about how there were "empty shelves" at her local Asda, and "nothing to wash hands, bodies or work tops" with.
Another said: "Interesting to see what people are stockpiling in my local supermarket. Bare shelves for rice, pasta, hand wash, tissues and loo roll."
Tally Paige said of the empty shelves at her local Tesco store: "it looks like a plague of locusts has descended".
Supermarkets have plans to ration food by working with suppliers to cut back on variety - focusing instead on their supplies of staple products.
MOST READ IN NEWS
Under the new "social distancing" strategy, Brits will be encouraged to work from home and told to avoid unnecessary travel.
The government will not force businesses to make their employees work from home or monitor their travelling but will encourage firms to follow the measures if the virus spreads.
The plan also looks to bring back health professionals who have retired while relaxing rules around staff to pupil ratios in education and health care settings.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368 . You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.