There is plenty of food to go round, but there won’t be if idiots continue with such disgraceful behaviour - Ros Snowdon

Analyst Bruno Monteyne at Bernstein said that despite the empty shelves, there is plenty of food and people are simply buying food to fill their fridges, freezers, cellars and bedrooms.

He believes some households will soon hit maximum physical storage capacity, which will thankfully lower the level of pandemic buying.

One video that went viral this weekend was filmed by a man showing off how he has stockpiled so many goods that his house is full of them and his children are having to play surrounded by huge piles of toilet rolls, tinned goods, detergent, shampoo, cartons of fruit juice and other non-perishable products.

Meanwhile, octogenarians flocked to garden centres over the weekend, oblivious of the dangers.

This is quite simple. We all have to act as if we are infected with the coronavirus and we need to stay two metres away from other people unless we are in the same household as them.

This is about protecting other people, not ourselves.

In London, neighbours are reaching out to try to find stores that are still stocking toilet roll. All of this has been caused by the selfish actions of a small minority.

I can’t find any pasta in the shops, fresh or dried, so a neighbour is lending out her pasta maker.

This is madness and is totally unnecessary. People who are stockpiling should be ashamed of themselves.

When it comes to social gathering, a big cause of the problem is the lack of clear directives.

All people have to do is read their local newspaper or turn on the BBC news to get the latest advice.

My mother only realised the significance of the coronavirus epidemic when the BBC announced The Archers was cutting down to five episodes a week instead of six.

She was baffled as to why. We then explained the ban on social gathering for about the twentieth time.

She is over 70 and is in self-isolation, but doesn’t really understand why and no amount of explaining can get through to her.

Meanwhile tube trains in London are full of commuters.

Companies should not be forcing people to come into work unless they are key workers.

At the same time the reduced service means more people are having to pack themselves on to a smaller number of trains. The Government must ensure the same mistake is not made with trains in the North if the service is to be reduced.

Mr Monteyne has calculated that Bradford-based Morrisons saw zero like-for-like sales growth in February.

He said that by the first week of March, Morrisons’ like-for-like sales had spiked to a 10 to 15 per cent rise and by the second week of March to 15 to 20 per cent. They rose even higher in the third week.

Ocado is also growing at 20 per cent and could be doing four to five times more orders if it wasn’t capacity-constrained.

Mr Monteyne said: “Population growth is near zero and the mix shift negative. That means volumes are probably growing at 25 per cent plus in the UK. These are crazy levels of growth for a mature industry.”

C’mon folks. This is not rational behaviour.

There is plenty of food to go round, but there won’t be if idiots like the man who filmed his hoarding continue with such disgraceful behaviour.