Easter Bunny tested positive:( Shelves are fully stocked with chocolate Easter Eggs despite panic buyers stripping nearby aisles bare of other goods
- Britons aren’t stockpiling chocolate eggs ahead of Easter weekend in two weeks
- Shoppers are still emptying shelves of essential goods such as bread and milk
- But Easter Eggs and alcohol aisles are still fully stocked across the country
- Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?
Supermarket shelves across Britain are still full of Easter Eggs despite shoppers leaving nearby shelves bare of other goods.
Chocolate aisles up and down the country are fully stocked with edible eggs with just two weeks to go until the Easter weekend.
Britons are still panic buying essential food items such as bread, milk, eggs, pasta and rice, but appear to have forgotten about any festivities amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Those who have already braved socially-distanced supermarket queues this week claim the only products available in abundance are Easter Eggs and alcohol.
Meanwhile ‘over zealous’ police officers have told corner shops to stop selling Easter Eggs as they are not ‘essential goods’.
Supermarket shelves across Britain (one pictured today) are still full of Easter Eggs despite shoppers leaving nearby shelves bare of other goods
One person joked on Twitter: ‘Nobody is panic buying Easter Eggs. The Easter bunny tested positive :(‘
Shopkeepers in Surrey and Buckinghamshire were wrongly told they should not be selling edible eggs or hot cross buns, despite the Government having no legislation to back them up.
But the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) accused officials of ‘misreading’ the rules and has now told its members to continue selling such items as normal.
ACS chief executive James Lowman said in a statement: ‘The Government have defined which stores can remain open, and that includes convenience stores including newsagents and off-licences.
‘There is no Government definition of which products can be sold within those stores. This is overzealous enforcement and a misreading of the rules.’
Government guidelines state that corner shops, newsagents and supermarkets are allowed to stay open during the pandemic, while businesses such as barbershops and restaurants should close.
An Easter Egg aisle at a Tesco supermarket in Surrey Quays, London, is pictured full up today
Mr Lowman added: ‘In the cases where officers have challenged retailers and shoppers in this way, it’s brought confusion, distracted retailers in the busiest weeks of their lives, and increased the interactions between people at a time when the Government is trying to minimise them.’
Supermarkets have slashed the prices of many of their Easter Eggs in a desperate bid to get rid of the excess stock.
Someone else wrote: ‘All this panic buying yet no one has panic bought alcohol or Easter eggs so I will be fine I can live off that I’m sure.’
Another person quipped on Twitter: ‘No one but supermarkets stockpiling Easter Eggs.’
Tesco in Surrey Quays, south east London, is selling eggs at just £1.50 in a bid to get rid of them