CORONAVIRUS is continuing to spread across the country bringing disruption with it.
The UK has gone into full ‘lockdown’ with only essential shops to remain open.
This includes supermarkets and pharmacies.
Residents are also allowed to go outside to exercise once a day – being reminded to stay at least 2m away from other people.
Groups of more than two people are no longer allowed, under the announcement made by the Prime Minister in a national address.
Supermarkets have seen panic buying as shoppers rush to stock up on goods such as toilet roll and tinned food.
Asda has now lifted limits on fruit and vegetables as well as chilled products.
Check your local store’s opening times here.
Tesco
The 24 hour stores will now shut overnight between 10pm and 6am to allow for restocking.
Tesco Express stores are open from 6am to 10pm.
Tesco has also announced that shoppers will be limited to only three items on every product line – while multi-buy promotions have been removed.
On Monday, Wednesday and Friday the supermarket will be prioritising one hour for elderly and vulnerable shoppers – this will be between 9am and 10am.
On Sunday it will open an hour earlier for NHS workers to have a ‘browsing’ hour before the checkouts open.
Tesco has also announced that it is has expanded its home delivery and click & collect services after a surge in demand in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
The supermarket giant said it has grown its delivery and collection capacity to around 780,000 slots this week, up from 660,000 slots two weeks ago, with plans to increase this by another 100,000 in the coming weeks.
It added more than 200 new vans and recruited another 2,500 drivers and over 5,000 pickers, as part of the delivery expansion.
Sainsbury’s
This supermarket will also be running hours specifically for the elderly and vulnerable – with the 8am to 9am on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays dedicated to these shoppers.
NHS and social care workers will be able to shop in Sainsbury’s from 7.30am to 8am Mondays to Saturdays – just bring along your NHS ID for priority access.
The supermarket has announced new safety measures, including limiting the number of people allowed in stores and at ATMs.
Morrisons
The Morrisons will be open from 8am to 8pm Monday through Saturday then 10am to 4pm on Sundays.
There will be priority shopping for NHS workers between 7am and 8am Monday to Saturday.
Morrisons is limiting purchases customers can make on more than 1,000 products in store and online.
The company’s chief executive David Potts said the firm was donating £10 million worth of produce to help restock the nation’s food banks.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Mr Potts said: ‘For many people who use the food banks that’s their only store – so it is a very important part of society and we will play our part so that nobody is left behind.’
He added that food donation areas would also be set up in store and will be ‘very visible’.
Morrisons is now upping the limit on restricted products to four items per person from three, and removing them from some products all together.
On Friday it will be open from 8am to 9pm and Sunday it is open from 10am to 4pm.
Waitrose will be dedicating the first hour of opening as a priority shopping time for the elderly, the vulnerable and those who look after them.
Daily essentials will be set aside for NHS staff and they will get priority treatment at checkout.
Waitrose will also have dedicated marshals to monitor the two metre rule in busiest shops and number of customers allowed in will be limited so social distancing can be observed.
Shops have also introduced special protective visors at checkouts and there are other extra cleanliness measures in place.
Waitrose in Waterlooville will also be staying open until September to help during the Covid-19 outbreak.
Waitrose has now announced that it is lifting restrictions on all fresh food – so meat, poultry, fish and other fresh produce can be be bought freely along with fruit and vegtables.
Check your local store’s opening times in the store locator here.
The Lidl stores across Portsmouth will be open from 8am to 10pm Mondays through Saturdays.
They will also be open from 10am to 4pm on Sundays.
Lidl are encouraging customers to use contactless or card payments when possible, buy only what they need and to wash their hands regularly.
Check the store locator to check the specific opening times for stores.
Aldi
The budget supermarket is putting a restrictions of four items of any one product for shoppers.
Aldi stores across will shut two hours earlier on weekdays.
They will be open from 8am to 8pm instead of 10pm.
However Sunday hours will remain the same.
Nurses, police officers and firefighters will take priority in its queues with a valid ID.
Aldi has said it is relaxing shopping restrictions for a raft of products across its UK stores.
The discount supermarket introduced a blanket limit of four of every product after reports of panic-buying from customers in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
It said it will also continue limit customers to only two of its most popular items, which include antibacterial hand gel, UHT milk and baby formula.
Meanwhile, items such as nappies, bleach, toilet roll, pasta, tinned tomatoes, beer and hand wash will be limited to four items per person.
Products such as fresh fruit and vegetables and meat will no longer be rationed for shoppers.
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