Waitrose has become the first supermarket to limit the number of shoppers in stores and Asda has closed its self-service check-outs amid concern that panic buying is raising the risk of infection. From yesterday afternoon all the retailer’s sites began restricting entries so that social distancing could be observed in stores for the benefit of staff and customers. There is no specified number of customers allowed in store and managers will instead been told to use their judgment about when the shop is at capacity. When managers consider that no more people should be allowed in, they will instruct security to operate a “one in, one out” policy. Guards, which the supermarket is describing as “two-metre marshals”, will help to manage queues outside shops and

Source: The Times March 25, 2020 00:00 UTC