A Tesco store has started placing security tags on plastic bottles of hand soap in the toilets amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
A customer at one of the firm's stores in Warwickshire spotted the bizarre security move and uploaded an image to social media.
The photo shows a half empty bottle of Tesco Essentials handwash with a red security tag attached to it.
The bottle, which retails for £1.05, is sat beside a sink with a mirror in the background, which the person who posted it claimed was in the bathroom of a Bedford store.
The product is currently unavailable online along with a number of other hand wash items snatched up by people attempting to ward off coronavirus infection.
Fear of contracting the disease has led at least one person to steal sanitiser from Northampton General hospital.
Three wall mounted dispensers have been ripped off the walls.
Visitors have been seen topping up their own dispensers from the hospital's hand sanitiser.
Desperation in the shopping aisles is likely to be a fixture for some months yet as the virus continues to spread.
In an emergency statement to the Commons tonight, Health secretary Matt Hancock said the British coronavirus death toll had reached eight, with 456 people testing positive for the disease.
Mr Hancock said cases were not expected to peak for several months, warning: “This is a marathon not a sprint.”
The latest victims were a patient in their 70s being treated for underlying health conditions in Dudley, West Mids, and an elderly patient being treated for “a number of serious, underlying health conditions” in Warwickshire.
