COVID-19, a fatal pandemic that has swept through the globe has made the United Kingdom take fundamental measures to ensure the safety of the public. On the 23rd March 2020 when Boris Johnson announced the lockdown of the UK, it included preventative measures to help control the spread of the virus. Some of these were: 

-For all unessential shops to close 

-For the public not to go out to social gatherings (this was banned already) 

-Only to go out with a maximum of two people together  

-All places of worship to close

If any of these rules were broken, then a fine of £30 would follow. However, this has had an adverse effect on the UK’s economy as people’s only source of income is their job. For example, a shopkeeper relies on selling his products to his customers however if they have been ordered to shut down then the question is how will they survive this pandemic; this is what makes them the most vulnerable in society. It has even gone as far as revoking their licenses as they didn’t follow protocol. 

As these shops shut down, this stresses the services of other major supermarket chains e.g. Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s. The situation has gotten so out of hand with hoarding that supermarkets are having to ration out certain foods or goods to customers in their hopes of giving everyone a chance to buy the things they need. As this wasn’t enough either, they had to make sure the elderly and disabled had enough time to shop. They could shop from 7-9am for 60yrs+. But there was another issue with this as people formed a snake –like queue outside of shops just to get the essentials and some of the elderly were left to wait outside in the rain.

Products like hand sanitiser, toilet rolls, pasta, bread, washing up liquid/washing up powder, frozen food, fresh produce and medication were all gone within the first few hours of shops opening. Shelves of shops are completely empty despite there being frequent deliveries and an increase in food production by 50%. If we do not stop hoarding, then the matter will simply get worse at time passes. This will put an already unbearable stress on the NHS' services. Stay home, stay safe.  

By Eisher Aujla