Page QQQ Daily Mail, Wednesday, March 4, 2020
From the
Far east
to France,
the masks
oF Fear
By Sean Poulter
Consumer Affairs Editor
Essentials vanish as advice is ignored
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Sold out: Empty shelves in stores across the UK as buyers stockpile hygiene and food products
SHOPPERS are ignoring ‘Don’t
Panic’ advice and clearing shelves
of essentials – from hand sanitis-
ers to toilet rolls, pasta and rice.
Government advisers say there is
no need to stockpile and people will
be able to rely on the kindness of
others if they fall sick.
However, it seems many people have
not been convinced by such reassur-
ances, while some experts have even
warned of potential food riots.
Sales of antibacterial gel and wipes are
up 255 per cent with some stores run-
ning out and others introducing ration-
ing. Retailers have also seen a rise of
10 per cent in sales of disinfectants and
7 per cent for liquid soap.
Facebook and Twitter are littered with
photographs of empty shelves and shop-
pers appear to have thrown empty boxes
into the aisles.
Shortages seem to have spread to cup-
board items such as rice, pasta, cous-
cous, Pot Noodles, bottled water, toilet
rolls and pet food.
The rush to the shops and a surge in
online grocery orders comes as con-
cerned families fear they may have to
put themselves into a form of ‘home
quarantine’. But the scramble, mirrored
around the world, is at odds with the
advice of the Government’s Chief Scien-
tific Adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance.
Standing alongside Boris Johnson yes-
terday, he said: ‘I think the advice is that
there is absolutely no reason to be doing
any panic buying of any sort or going out
response after weeks of growing concern
about coronavirus.
‘What has perplexed me is that the
Government has been so slow to learn
how fragile UK food systems are. Stock-
piling at home ought to be the last line of
food defence, not the only line.’
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and
consumer insight at analysts Kantar,
said shoppers are heeding the hygiene
advice. He said: ‘Given the media focus
around the outbreak of Covid-19 in
February, it’s unsurprising to see shop-
pers prudently protecting themselves
from illness.’
Boots and some other stores are limit-
ing customers to buying a maximum of
two bottles of hand sanitisers each.
Industry experts said UK supermar-
kets have contingency plans to ensure
food remains on shelves.
However, senior food industry analyst
Bruno Monteyne, of stockbrokers Bern-
stein, who is a former Tesco executive,
made the shocking claim earlier this
week that any major outbreak ‘will
quickly lead to panic buying, empty
shelves and food riots’.
But he stressed: ‘The industry has
ready-made plans to deal with that: plans
are surely being drawn up with suppliers
to rationalise product ranges and transi-
tion to a “feed the nation” status when
necessary.’ He added: ‘The objective isn’t
to scaremonger. On the contrary, the
industry has plans to deal with this.’
Meanwhile the British Retail Consor-
tium insists that there is ‘no evidence’ to
justify claims of chaos and food riots. Its
director of food and sustainability,
Andrew Opie, said: ‘Disruption to supply
chains has been limited, and the availa-
bility of products remains good.’and keeping large supplies of things.
Clearly there will need to be measures in
cases of household quarantine for mak-
ing sure food is in the right place at the
right time.’
The Chief Medical Officer for England,
Professor Chris Whitty, went further,
suggesting the sick could safely rely on
the kindness of others to make sure they
had everything they need.
He said behavioural science evidence
showed that the ‘response of the British
public to disasters and emergencies is
extraordinary outbreaks of altruism’.
In contrast, Tim Lang, professor of food
policy at City University, London, and
author of a book called Feeding Britain,
said: ‘Stockpiling is an understandableVIRUS PANIC SPREADS
Don’t panic!
Shoppers
clear stores