Packed supermarkets and empty streets as the UK responds to coronavirus outbreak

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Tim Baker14 March 2020

Supermarket shelves are being cleared and high streets abandoned as the UK reacts to the coronavirus outbreak.

Some companies have been forced to put restrictions on the number of items people can buy after shoppers turned to panic buying, despite advice not to do so.

Official guidance from the Government says there is no need to stockpile goods.

The supermarket chain Aldi has now stopped customers from buying any more than four of the same one item.

Meanwhile, tourist hotspots such as Oxford Circus, Buckingham Palace and Regent Street were all ghostly quiet on what would usually be a busy Saturday morning.

Although hundreds of people are still on the street, both foot and vehicle traffic are reduced compared to other Saturday afternoons.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has told the country that "many more families are going to lose loved ones" in the Covid-19 outbreak.

Those showing any symptoms of the virus, however mild, have also been told to self-isolate for seven days.

It emerged earlier today that the Government were considering banning public gatherings as part of a measure to stop the spread of the virus.

It came after the Government's so-called "herd immunity" approach was called into question by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The UK death toll of those who have been diagnosed with the virus is 21.

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