HUNDREDS of shoppers in Oxfordshire were up in the early hours of the morning to queue at supermarkets before opening time.

A crowd of customers armed with shopping trollies surrounded Tesco at the Cowley Retail Park in 5.40am today.

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Supplies including toilet paper, cleaning products, pasta and tinned food are amongst the items being cleared out from shelves.

It comes despite pleas from major retailers bosses for shoppers to act rationally and not panic-buy.

Some supermarkets chains have already introduced rationing to fight food shortages in the worsening coronavirus outbreak.

Customers at Sainsbury's are now only able to buy a maximum of three of any grocery products and a maximum of two on the most popular items like toilet paper.

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Tesco has also imposed similar restrictions on the amount of baked beans, dry pasta and UHT milk people can buy.

From yesteday Asda shopper are also limited to purchasing only maximum three of all food items, toiletries and cleaning products.