Sainsbury's staff in Grimsby have to block off entire aisle from shoppers to restock toilet paper

Supermarket staff had to barricade an entire aisle from shoppers sothey could restock toilet roll without being overrun by franticshoppers.

The aisle for cleaning products and toilet paper at Grimsby's Sainsbury's store had to be closed off to shoppers to give staff thechance to restock the shelves.

After putting out two and a half stock trolleys of toilet paper out,they removed the metal barricades, with the aisle quickly floodingwith customers to grab them.

Toilet paper is currently limited to two per person in Sainsbury's,but that did not stop customers grabbing the large multi-packs whilethey could.

One shopper said: "It's all a bit mad really. They shouldn't have to do this for toilet roll. I can't believe it's got as bad as this. I only need one pack because I was running out."

Another shopper said: "I've tried to find loo roll all over and it's always been sold out. Thankfully I've timed it right and managed to get here for when they're putting stock out. I was starting to run low."

Supermarkets across North East Lincolnshire have been struggling tohandle the demand of panic buying due to the coronavirus.

Grimsby's Asda store had to put a security guard on the door due toover 100 customers queuing outside waiting for the doors to open at6am.

They were forced to keep one door closed while security asked shoppersto 'travel at a safe speed' coming into the store.

Large queues had already started outside the store at 5.30am, with thecar park virtually full by 6.10am.

At Iceland on Bethlehem Street there were similar scenes, with a queueof more than 100 people at 9am before opening. The store usually opensat 8am.

While, over at Tesco Extra in Cleethorpes, the shelves were strippedbare by customers, with one worker saying that both of theirdeliveries that day had sold out.

Fresh food, meat, bread, eggs and canned food were all cleared in justa few hours on Thursday morning as people filled trolleys due to thecoronavirus outbreak.

One shopper said: "People must have been literally stockpilingeverything, there's just nothing there. No tea, coffee, pasta, squash,beer.

"The staff aren't even restocking the shelves at the moment, so anyonefinishing work later today will be coming in to an empty shop.

"The people in there were mostly trying to buy alcohol, clearlylooking to keep themselves entertained during self-isolation.

"There isn't anyone here trying to panic buy at the moment, they'rejust wanting to do a small shop or buy a couple of items and theycan't even do that."

To combat this, a lot of stores have reduced the amount of productsthat people can buy, as well as offering priority delivery slots andspecial opening hours for its elderly customers.

Supermarket delivery drivers have also been named as 'key workers' bythe government as they announced full school closures across the UK.

This will mean that, if they have children, they will still have to goto school to ensure that their parents can work.

There have been 3,269 total cases in the UK, with 144 deaths and 65patients recovered.

There are no confirmed cases of the disease in North East Lincolnshireat the moment, but those with symptoms have been advised toself-isolate, rather than visit a hospital to get tested.

Despite this, government advice is for people to follow socialdistancing, which aims to reduce the amount of close contact peoplehave with one another.

This includes avoiding venues such as pubs, clubs, restaurants,cinemas, and theatres, and to work from home whenever possible.

Around the world, there have been 239,837 coronavirus cases, with9,953 deaths and 86,681 recovered.