Boris Johnson urges public to be 'considerate' as coronavirus panic buying continues

Boris Johnson has called for members of the public to be "considerate" of others when shopping as coronavirus panic buying continues.

Across the UK, supermarkets have begun limiting the number of items people can buy to ease stockpiling pressure amid the Covid-19 outbreak, as stores also roll out measures to help elderly and vulnerable shoppers.

The Prime Minister has asked the public to be "reasonable and considerate" in the way they shop.

Mr Johnson said: “On mass buying and the price issue, I really hope that retailers will continue to be reasonable. I certainly wouldn’t want to see profiteering of any kind.”

He added: “As I said before, we’ve got good supply chains farm to fork – there’s no reason for the shops really to be empty.

“Please be reasonable, please be reasonable in your shopping, be considerate and thoughtful for others as you do it.”

The PM’s spokesman later reiterated that the public should be “considerate in the way they shop”.

“There’s plenty of stock available but if people buy more than they need others will be left without.”

It came as it was revealed that Formula milk is selling online for more than triple its usual price as parents report they are struggling to purchase it from shops.

Manufacturers reassured parents they are working hard to meet demand during the coronavirus outbreak, as sellers on eBay and Amazon flog products for inflated prices.

Meanwhile, in an effort to curb stockpiling, Sainsbury’s said it will only allow customers to buy a maximum of three of any single item, while Morrisons said it is limiting purchases across 1,250 lines.

Asda also announced it is restricting shoppers to three items on all food and closing its cafes and pizza counters, while temporarily reducing the opening hours of all its 24-hour stores for re-stocking.

Aldi has already introduced limits of four items per shopper across all products.

Britain’s supermarket chains are also launching action to help elderly and vulnerable customers, while ramping up operations to meet surging demand for home deliveries.

Sainsbury’s became the latest group to offer priority home delivery slots to elderly and vulnerable customers, as well as exclusive shopping hours.

Its supermarkets will only open to these two groups for the first hour of trading on Thursday, chief executive Mike Coupe said. Sainsbury’s Local convenience stores will not offer the service.

Supermarkets have seen a huge rise in demand for delivery services, with no slots available until next month for both Tesco and Waitrose in some parts of the south east. Morrisons announced it is creating 3,500 jobs to expand its home delivery service to cope with demand.

The surge came as Transport Secretary Grant Shapps authorised a temporary relaxation, until April 16, of the drivers’ hours rules to help deliver goods to stores across the country.