Melbourne coronavirus: Panic buying strips Coles supermarkets

Frustrated Australians are sharing eerie photos on social media of empty supermarket shelves entirely cleared following a spike in cases in Victoria.

Australians have shared photos on social media of supermarket shelves that have been entirely cleared of stock following Victoria’s spike in cases.

Supermarkets in Melbourne’s inner east, inner west, western suburbs, as well as satellite suburbs in the city’s West Gippsland region are experiencing new waves of panic buying, as the state deals with a new spike in coronavirus cases.

About 3000 residents living in public housing towers in North Melbourne and Flemington were placed under mandatory detention orders on Saturday, which could extend for up to two weeks.

A total of 53 cases of COVID-19 have been detected in the towers, with more than half of those among the record 127 new cases recorded by the state today.

One resident in the tower told Channel 9 this morning he had no idea he’d be confined to the tower, and he and other residents weren’t able to buy groceries before they were put into the hard lock down.

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Coles a wee bit empty, on the shelves of inner East Melbourne.

{📺 Real Dads of Melbourne 03/07}. pic.twitter.com/r2YaAP79Wv

— Lisa Brassington 💚 (@AgPeriUrban) July 3, 2020

Shelves stripped of vegetables at Coles. @Anon17Aussie

Meanwhile, Coles Footscray looks like a supermarket in Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union. pic.twitter.com/7rVib5S2OF

— Cade Lucas (@cadelucas) July 5, 2020

Both Coles and Woolworths have reintroduced purchasing limits on a number of staple grocery items across Victorian stores.

The measures were announced on Friday afternoon as a surge in coronavirus cases led to an increase in panic buying across the state.

There will now be a purchase limit of two items on 18 different products including frozen vegetables, bread loaves, chilled fresh milk, prepacked sausages, burger patties and tissues.

However, shoppers still seemed to be targeting some of these items, with dairy and milk shelves stripped bare in some shops.

The dairy aisle empty at Coles in Tarneit. Picture: @Anon17Aussie

Victorian and Tasmanian Coles earlier reinstated more product limits after distribution centre workers tested positive for coronavirus, hurting the supermarkets giant’s ability to replenish shelves.

The measures apply to supermarkets, Coles Express and Coles Online in Victoria and Tasmania, as well as Lavington, Albury and Deniliquin in New South Wales.

They are in addition to the two-pack limits announced one week before in response to panic buying and the one-pack limits on toilet paper and paper towel across the country.