(Adds details)
LONDON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Morrisons on Thursday
became the first major British supermarket chain to reintroduce
shopper restrictions on purchases of key items after the
government imposed new measures to stem a second wave of
COVID-19.
Bradford, northern England-based Morrisons, Britain's fourth
largest supermarket group, said it was limiting consumers buying
products such as toilet rolls, disinfectants and bleach to a
maximum of three items. It has also applied some caps to online
orders.
"We've got decent stock levels but we want to be sure that
they are available for everyone," said a Morrisons spokesman.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the British people on
Tuesday to work from home where possible and ordered restaurants
and bars to close early to tackle a spike in the pandemic, with
new restrictions likely to last six months.
That prompted speculation over whether there could be
stockpiling, or panic buying, of groceries similar to that seen
in March when supermarket shelves were stripped bare, leading to
the rationing of certain items.
Images on social media showed some gaps in supermarkets'
shelves.
However, market leader Tesco, Sainsbury's
and Walmart-owned Asda have not imposed any new
restrictions.
Earlier this week the bosses of both Tesco and Aldi
, Britain's fifth largest player, said supplies were
plentiful but called on shoppers to only buy what they need.
"We just don't want to see a return to unnecessary panic
buying because that creates a tension in the supply chain that's
not necessary," said Tesco Chief Executive Dave Lewis.
Reckitt Benckiser, the company behind Dettol cleaning
products, has optimized its supply network to maximise
production, a spokeswoman said, and will continue to do
everything it can to meet increased consumer demand and break
the chain of infection.
(Reporting by Tanishaa Nadkar in Bengaluru and James Davey in
London; Additional reporting by Martinne Geller; Editing by Amy
Caren Daniel and Jan Harvey)