The UK government has updated its list of essential businesses allowed to stay open while the country is on lockdown.
Following the closure of all pubs and bars to help stem the spread of the coronavirus, off-licences have now been given permission to continue operating with immediate effect.
Shops licensed to sell alcohol, including those in breweries, also made the updated list of stores exempted from mass closures in the retail sector.
The late addition of alcohol outlets will be welcome news for many people across the country after images of empty supermarket shelves began circulating online, prompting fears they could be running low on supplies of beer and wine.
“Just in case anyone needed confirmation of how dumb some people in this country can be, the panic buyers are at it again but this time they’re clearing all the supermarket shelves of alcohol,” one person wrote, adding: “Except for the Corona”.
Another commented: “The totally empty shelves in the supermarket alcohol aisles would suggest that the average person may well be drinking a lot more.”
Off-licences now join a host of businesses considered essential to keep the nation running, including supermarkets, pharmacies, banks and petrol stations.
However, the government has stated that any retail premises which remain open must follow stringent social distancing rules.
These including ensuring there is a minimum distance of two metres between customers and shop assistants, only letting small groups of people enter at a time and enforcing queue control outside stores.
On Monday night, Boris Johnson ordered the closure of all non-essential stores as he plunged the UK into a lockdown to ease the burden on the NHS.
The new measures also saw the closure of places of worship, libraries, museums, galleries and playgrounds.
All public gatherings of more than two people – except for members of the same household – have also been banned.
Acknowledging that “many” more people will die in the crisis, Mr Johnson said that the measures will be reviewed in three weeks’ time, when they will be relaxed “if the evidence shows we are able to”.
