Tesco will introduce buying restrictions on all customers from Thursday, the supermarket has announced.
A maximum of three products per line policy will begin.
The company said it was in ‘uncharted waters’ over the coronavirus pandemic in the wake of widespread panic buying and in the case of some products, empty supermarket shelves.
Bosses said the move was designed to cope with high demand caused by the outbreak of the virus.
In a letter to staff, chief executive Dave Lewis said all counter services would be closed to focus on stocking shelves, encourage healthy shoppers to come to stores and free up online capacity.
And in line with announcements from other supermarkets, a period between 9am and 10am will be prioritised for vulnerable and elderly customers everyday.
Mr Lewis said: “It is fair to say that we find ourselves in uncharted waters. Covid-19 is bringing a change to the UK and it’s clear that lots of things are going to have to shift around in order to help us cope.”
10 days ago - on March 8 - Tesco confirmed it had begun rationing certain items
Customers were only allowed to buy five each of Calpol, antibacterial gels, sprays and wipes, dried pasta and long-life milk.
And in a move announced on Tuesday, Tesco’s 24-hour stores will now open between 6am and 10pm.
Sainsburys meanwhile announced earlier that from today, customers would only be able to buy a maximum of three of any ‘grocery product’ and a maximum of two on ‘the most popular products including toilet paper, soap and UHT milk’.
The supermarkets cafes and its meat, fish and pizza counters in store have all closed to focus on stocking shelves.
And Asda, also from today, said customers would only be able to buy up to three of any product across all food items, toiletries and cleaning products.
