Customers are sprayed with ‘DISINFECTANT’ amid coronavirus panic: Costco worker douses people at the front door like they are going through a cattle dip as fear over killer virus grips the nation
- Businesses across the UK are taking precautions against the spread of the virus
- Footage shows customers at a Costco store being given hand sanitiser on entry
- M&S customers had to get authorisation to buy hand sanitiser from self service
Retailers in the UK have now started to disinfect customers entering their stores as fears around the coronavirus continue to escalate.
Video footage taken outside a Costco in Croydon showed customers lining up outside the entrance to the store, where a member of staff was handing out hand sanitiser and tissue that the customers were cleaning their hands with before they were allowed to enter.
Customers were seen pushing their shopping trolleys towards the entrance of the store on Thursday afternoon before being stopped by a staff member.
This is while shelves in supermarkets up and down the country were left empty as customer rushed to buy disinfectant products and other preventative products.
It comes as the competition watchdog yesterday warned that firms taking advantage of the panic by hiking prices of items such as hand sanitisers and disinfectants could be prosecuted or fined amid shortages of the products across the country.
It seemed there was a back log of customers outside the Costco in Croydon as they were given handsanitiser on entrance
The action from Costco comes as many cleaning products were sold out in stores up and down the country. Pictured above is a Tesco store is seen stripped of toilet paper amid warnings shoppers must avoid panic buying essentials
Customers in Marks & Spencer stores have now also been limited to the amount of hand sanitiser they are able to purchase.
The process is now similar to that of when a customer wants to buy a product containing alcohol.
If using a self service machine a notice flashes up on screen and a staff member has to come over to grant authorisation for the product to be sold.
Despite stores now panicking about customer spreading the virus in stores, the British Retail Consortium said there should be no risk to customers shopping and browsing in stores.
Customers were lined up outside the Croydon Costco (pictured above) and were given hand sanitiser
A queue of people was pictured outside Boots in Wimbledon on Thursday morning reportedly waiting to buy hand sanitiser
There are now 90 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Britain, after three more were confirmed in Scotland this morning
BEWARE DOOR HANDLES, AD CAMPAIGN WARNS
Ministers have launched an advertising blitz featuring a dirty door handle, amid frantic efforts to halt the rise of coronavirus in the UK.
The huge public information campaign will urge the public to wash their hands whenever they arrive somewhere.
The drive is designed to change people’s attitude to hygiene, amid fears the killer infection could become a seasonal problem.
The ad campaign warns that the coronavirus virus can live on hard surfaces for hours
Health chiefs decided to use the door handle picture after tests showed 96 per cent of people remembered the poster because of the disgust factor.
In comparison, only 85 per cent could recall a poster that simply told people to wash their hands, The Times reports.
A Government source told the newspaper: ‘Just information works on a cognitive level. But disgust works on an emotional level.’
‘Current estimates suggest it can live up to 24-30 hours outside the body. Much less than the sea freight and air freight times (weeks) from China. In addition, the virus is temperature sensitive and would not tolerate the sub-zero low temperatures typically found in the cargo hold of an aeroplane.’
The organisation said that sales of hand sanitisers and other similar products had gone up and that businesses ‘make sensible precautions’ to stop the spread of the disease.
As the virus is transferred by water droplets transmission requires close proximity of around one to two metres.
But the concern is not people being in close proximity and is the fact that individuals could smear the virus from hands to face.
This could occur in stores if someone touches a product that has also been touched by a carrier of the virus – and then touches their face of mouth.
The government has now issued advise that states people should be washing their hands more often and for at least 20 seconds.
Retail experts yesterday claimed that supermarkets would be preparing for riots as part of emergency plans to feed the nation as panic buying Brits started to strip shelves faster than they could be refilled this week.
Former Tesco supply chain director Bruno Monteyne said a major outbreak of the virus would result in ‘panic buying, empty shelves and food riots’ but that at this stage retailers would revert to ‘feed the nation’ status to avoid anyone going hungry.
It came as Boris Johnson tried to reassure Britons he would ‘keep the country fed’ and urged people to refrain from stockpiling essentials as photos circulated of empty shelves in supermarkets.
Monteyne, of investment firm Alliance Bernstein, said the virus reaching pandemic status would lead to thousands of supermarket delivery drivers going off work, reducing the rate at which stores can be replenished.
Warehouses typically only hold one to two weeks of stock for non-refrigerated food products and only a few days for perishable goods and bulky items like toilet paper, so panic buying would rapidly lead to shortages.
At this point the industry’s crisis-management mode would kicks in, with supermarkets working together to ensure there is enough food to go round, Monteyne said in a report.
MailOnline has contacted Costco and Marks and Spencer.