Reports of panic buying of toilet paper as Sydney faces growing coronavirus outbreak

Shoppers are reporting shelves are once again being stripped bare as the city remains on tenterhooks amid the growing coronavirus outbreak.

Sydney isn’t in a lockdown but it doesn’t seem to have stopped some residents from panic buying, with social media flooded with images of people buying up big on one item.

Toilet paper seems to be once again in demand, with multiple shoppers reporting their local Coles or Woolies had either been stripped bare or was running low on the precious paper.

Both major supermarkets are yet to introduce limits on the product, however, they have previously restricted purchase of loo roll along with other essentials such as rice and pasta.

Condemnation of the panic buying has been swift, with several tweets pleading with people not to stockpile toilet paper.

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Panic buying appears to have hit Sydney supermarket toilet paper supplies once again. Picture: Twitter/@ATakpiny.

“I am still wondering why do people think toilet paper needs to be completely collected off the shelf every time there is a lockdown?” one person tweeted.

“This happened even when the shops guarantee that there are millions of rolls more in the pipeline and no one will ever run out. Madness.”

“Not panic buying toilet paper again Sydney,” another person wrote, sharing a photo of their local supermarket’s shelves stripped bare.

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Shoppers were quick to condemn those who had stripped shelves. Picture: Twitter/@sottfineline.

Really??? pic.twitter.com/ycpEPqo7g2

— Norman Swan (@normanswan) June 24, 2021

But not every supermarket’s toilet paper supply was gone, with some saying their store still had some, albeit less than normal.

News.com.au understands that while some Sydney stores may be experiencing temporary shortages on shelves, supermarket supply of toilet paper was still at a high level.

NSW Health confirmed 18 new locally acquired cases in the 24 hours to 8pm last night, 13 of which were already announced yesterday.

There were also six cases recorded outside of the official reporting period, meaning they will be included in tomorrow’s numbers. There are now 48 infections linked to Sydney’s outbreak.

#sydneylockdown#COVID19nsw Here we go again. Stocks of toilet paper at Woolies Eastgardens quickly eroding. Obviously caravan and holiday parks will be saving a lot of money on toilet paper these school holidays as sydneysiders can't travel. pic.twitter.com/ShzjSuYm3V

— Paul Gibbs (@paulgibbs007) June 23, 2021

And so it begins … again #sydneylockdown#COVID19nsw#COVID19Vic#COVID19#COVIDIOTS#toiletpaper#mossvale#coles#southernhighlandspic.twitter.com/fRQp0Li3au

— GG (@GordonGhekoAus) June 24, 2021

But despite the growing outbreak Sydney NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said there is no plans to lock the city down.
“It is a very contagious variant, but at the same time we are at this stage comfortable that the settings that are in place are the appropriate settings – but that is so long as everybody does the right thing,” she said.

“Please be extra cautious.”

NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant agreed, saying that health authorities had managed to stay on top of contact tracing infected cases’ whereabouts.

“We are not in that situation where we are not getting to people in terms of the contact tracing,” she said.

News.com.au has contacted both Woolworths and Coles for comment.