Victorian supermarkets have reimposed purchase limits to prevent a second wave of ‘panic buying’
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Victorian supermarkets have reimposed purchase limits to prevent a second wave of ‘panic buying’

Here’s hoping the panic doesn’t spread to Geelong.

Supermarkets across Melbourne have urged shoppers to only buy what they need as people rush to stock up on toilet paper and other essentials amidst the current spike in new coronavirus cases in Victoria.

Some shops have re-introduced limits on popular items, such as toilet paper, hand sanitiser, paper towel, flour, sugar, pasta, mince, UHT milk, eggs and rice, as they prepare for a second wave of panic buying. Supermarkets located within hotspot zones have been hit the hardest as the government debates introducing concentrated lockdowns in certain suburbs.

“We saw elevated demand for toilet rolls in a small number of Melbourne stores yesterday,” a Woolworths spokesperson told SBS News. “We have plenty of stock to draw on in our distribution centres and will replenish shelves in those stores quickly.”

These limits will also apply to online orders.

Several Melburnians have taken to Twitter to show the barren shelves at their local Coles and Woolworths.

This comes as Victoria recorded 20 new COVID cases on Wednesday.

Chief health officer Brett Sutton also confirmed the death of a man in his 80s. He is Victoria’s 20th coronavirus fatality, and Australia’s 103rd – and the country’s first COVID-19 death since May 23.

Many of Victoria’s cases are linked to community transmission of the deadly virus, and only one of the 20 reported on Wednesday was in a returned traveller in hotel quarantine. In NSW however – where cases also jumped on Wednesday – all of its 10 new infections were among returned Australians.

Info via Kate Streader & Beat Magazine.