Toilet paper, cooking oil, diet coke being rationed in anticipation of coronavirus pandemic

TERRITORIANS have finally joined in the toilet paper plunder, with supermarkets flushed of their bum-wiping stocks due to coronavirus fearmongering.

At Woolworths in Nightcliff, the toilet paper aisle was left empty as people stocked up on loo paper amid panic about coronavirus. Picture Katrina Bridgeford.

TERRITORIANS have finally joined in the toilet paper plunder with supermarkets flushed of their bum-wiping stocks due to coronavirus fearmongering.

Customers at Nightcliff Woolworths cleared out parcels of toilet paper and hand sanitiser yesterday, while those who missed out had already started to exhaust tissue supplies.

Malak resident Col West said his partner was concerned about stocks and had bought a 36-roll pack today after purchasing a 48-roll pack last night.

“(We’ve stocked up on) toilet paper, cooking oil, Diet Coke, we live on Diet Coke,” he said.

“We’ve just come out, we had to go to Bunnings so thought we’d come here as well.

“I use heaps of the blasted paper … you last a couple of days per roll.”

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However, it wasn’t changing social behaviours or stopping him from getting out of the house despite being in a higher risk age group.

“(Coronavirus) seems to be going for all us (oldies), we should be told we should be careful but I’m still shaking hands, I was brought up that way,” Mr West said.

Nightcliff resident Johanna Funk bought toilet rolls as part of her regular shop and couldn’t believe how much some people were buying.

“I’m not stockpiling, I’ve got my cyclone kit if I need to back myself up. It’s good to have a few things in the cupboard but I’m not going nuts,” she said.

“It’s really funny, hand sanitiser is limited at the customer service desk but the soap is all still there. The lack of loo rolls and hand sanitiser but the abundance of other kinds of soaps and vitamins … shows people are being manipulated by fearmongering rather than just being calm.”

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Shoppers were restricted to two packets of toilet rolls.. each to ensure stocks weren’t completely wiped out.

Hibiscus Woolworths still had some packets remaining but was on its way to being pillaged by those concerned about how coronavirus may affect stocks and those not wanting to miss out.