SUPERMARKET bosses have urged people not to panic buy as the Government battles a rise in coronavirus cases.

A director at the British Retail Consortium has urged consumers to be considerate of others and “shop as you normally would” – though he added supply chains are currently “stronger than ever”.

Despite scenes at some stores, supermarket giants Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Lidl and Aldi have said they had “good availability” on Monday and have not experienced any shortages yet.

Tesco added its online capacity had almost doubled from 600,000 weekly delivery slots in March, to 1.5 million in September.

The Argus: Empty - England was hit by a wave of panic buying at the outset of the lockdown earlier this yearEmpty - England was hit by a wave of panic buying at the outset of the lockdown earlier this year

Director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, Andrew Opie, said: “Supply chains are stronger than ever before and we do not anticipate any issues in the availability of food or other goods under a future lockdown.

“Nonetheless, we urge consumers to be considerate of others and shop as they normally would.”

He added that retailers have done an “excellent job” making sure customers have access to food throughout the pandemic, while installing perspex screens and other social distancing measures.

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“As such, retail remains a safe space for consumers, even under future lockdowns,” he said.

Boris Johnson has been forced to abandon his drive to get Brits back to the workplace as he prepares to announce new restrictions to curb the spread of coronavirus.

Pubs, bars and restaurants in England will be ordered to close by 10pm each night from Thursday.