A popular asthma drug, paracetamol, children's medicines and some prescription drugs are the latest items to be bought up by panic buyers, in some cases causing shortages.
The asthma medication Ventolin, which is inhaled by mild to severe asthmatics to open up their airways, has become increasingly hard to get in recent weeks, causing some pharmacies to bring in limits in recent days, while others ran out.
Some other prescription-only asthma preventers have also been in short supply in recent days.
Now the federal government has stepped in and ordered pharmacies to limit sales of some items.
Ventolin was formerly a prescription-only drug but has been available over the counter for some years.
Australia's deputy chief medical officer Paul Kelly said today that an unprecedented demand for certain medications had put a strain on supplies.
He said pharmacists had been asked to limit the sale of over-the-counter medicines like Ventolin and paracetamol to one unit per person following reports of people buying large volumes in recent days.
Pharmacies would also be asked to keep children's paracetamol products behind the counter, while some prescription-only medicines would be limited to a one-month supply.
The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) said that from today, pharmacists will enforce federal government direction to limit dispensing and sales of prescriptions and certain-over-the counter medicines.
The limits will apply to particular classes of medicines, for which unavailability would result in significant health impacts should treatment be interrupted or delayed, it said.
PSA national president, Associate Professor Chris Freeman, said limiting prescription and over-the-counter products to one month's supply was necessary to address the issue of people stockpiling medicines due to the current COVID-19 pandemic.
"The government has made it clear to the public that it is critical to stop stockpiling medicine to protect the access of medicines to all Australians," he said.
"Demand for medicines has increased considerably in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has the potential for numerous product lines to be out of stock and some pharmacists are being pressured and abused to provide unsafe quantities of medicine.
"There is currently no anticipation of widespread national medicine shortages, however if current levels of demand through excessive purchasing continue, supply interruptions will occur which is why these measures have been put in place."
Southgate Pharmacy at Sylvania was already limiting Ventolin to one per person, even with a prescription, on Tuesday.
A customer who inquired about supplies of the prescription-only asthma preventer Symbicort was told the pharmacy only had one left.
People have taken to social media in recent days to complain about difficulties finding Ventolin and children's medicines, while venting their anger at hoarders.