Update
St George and Sutherland Shire residents are continuing to face toilet paper shortages as supermarkets across the area struggle to keep up with increased demand caused by panic over coronavirus.
Readers have taken to social media, including the Leader's Facebook page, to share details of their difficulties finding supplies of toilet paper and other non-perishable items in local stores.
Meanwhile, Coles moved on Sunday to introduce a new one-packet limit for customers.
An email sent to its Flybuys customers yesterday afternoon said it would now enforce the limit "so that toilet paper is available for more of our customers, particularly the elderly and people who are unable to purchase in large volumes".
Coles said the move followed "unprecedented demand for toilet paper", which led them to "reluctantly introduce a temporary four-pack limit last week".
"Unfortunately, many stores are still selling out within an hour of delivery," the email said.
The move follows unprecedented scenes at supermarkets over the weekend, including an incident at the Woolworths store at Chullora, which resulted in two women being charged with affray.
Earlier
Supermarkets in St George and Sutherland Shire are still struggling to keep up with demand for toilet paper and other items as residents rush to stockpile supplies.
While the earlier shortage was blamed on people stockpiling or panic buying items amid fears over the worsening coronavirus situation, supply issues have now caused further problems.
Toilet paper is the most sought-after commodity, with supplies selling out as soon as they are replenished by staff.
Caringbah Coles had no toilet paper on shelves at 6pm last night, while staff worked to restock supplies of many other non-perishable items.
The supply problems led Coles to yesterday join Woolworths in introducing limits on sales of toilet paper and other items, while Woolworths announced it was keeping any available hand sanitiser behind the counter.
Meanwhile, Woolworths Rewards customers last night received an emailed message from Woolworths Group chief executive Brad Banducci providing an "important update on toilet paper and other essential items".
"We're working very closely with our suppliers to get products onto shelves as quickly as we can," he wrote.
"The makers of Kleenex, Sorbent, Quilton and Woolworths own range of toilet paper have all increased their production to meet this very unusual demand.
"To make sure everyone has access to essential items, we've introduced some common-sense limits to a few products.
"We've limited toilet paper to four packs per transaction and large packs of rice (2kg and over) to one per transaction.
"Where available, hand sanitiser is now at the Customer Service Desk and limited to two per transaction.
"We're constantly monitoring the situation and will do our best to keep all products freely available to everyone. However, if we see new shortages, we may introduce other limits."
Earlier
Shoppers have cleared out supermarket aisles across St George and Sutherland Shire, stocking up on toilet paper, non-perishable items and frozen food amid fears over the worsening coronavirus situation.
Whether you call it stockpiling or panic buying, shoppers stripped toilet paper aisles bare and left some stores with limited stock of items such as canned food, long-life milk and even dog food, while hand sanitiser is also long gone.
Residents have taken to social media to share images of bare shelves in supermarkets across the shire and St George.
It comes after some health experts suggested people stock up on essential items and medicines in preparation for a possible coronavirus epidemic here, which may force people to self-quarantine inside their homes for up to two weeks.
Woolworths at Caringbah was out of toilet paper at about 3pm yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon, while many aisles and end fixtures were also very low.
Frozen food had been snapped up, while rice shelves were also empty. Large holes existed in tinned food aisles, while little stock remained of long-life milk.
Staff were busy replacing some items, but others looked to be out of stock.
It was a similar story in other parts of the shire, with people posting photos of empty shelves at Menai and Sylvania. A social media user said Coles at Sylvania was out of toilet paper in the afternoon while another said she watched as customers argued over toilet paper and staff were "abused" at Menai Woolworths on Tuesday night.
"As of right now, everywhere is sold out. I watched people almost get into fights over toilet paper at Woolworths [Menai] last night and abusing staff [because] there is none," the woman wrote on Mums of the Shire community Facebook page.
A Menai woman said she went to three supermarkets, including Woolworths and Aldi, in search of toilet paper but came home empty handed. She said the Big W store was also out of toilet paper, baby wipes and other items, while dog food supplies were extremely low.
Shoppers in Hurstville were also faced with row upon row of empty shelves, with the Woolworths store completely out of toilet paper by the morning, according to one social media user.
Meanwhile, Woolworths moved today to limit customers to four packs of toilet paper per transaction in coming days, despite assurances from Prime Minister Scott Morrison that toilet paper suppliers were working to catch up to increased demand.
Mr Morrison said at a press conference yesterday he had discussed grocery supply issues with both Woolworths and Coles, and had also been advised by leading Australian toilet paper manufacturer Kimberly-Clark that it would increase production in South Australia to keep up with demand.
Mr Morrison urged the community to remain calm despite increased cases of COVID-19 - the name given to the disease caused by the coronavirus, which is now responsible for more than 3100 deaths thoughout the world.
