AS ENGLAND is plunged into a third lockdown in a bid to curb soaring coronavirus cases, all non-essential shops have shut.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Monday people across the country must stay at home and are allowed out only for a few reasons - medical assistance, essential shopping, essential work, escaping domestic abuse among them.
His televised appearance at 8pm meant restaurants and other hospitality venues will stay closed, but can continue delivery or takeaway services; however they can no longer serve alcohol.
Supermarkets are one of the few places that can still remain open, but have changed how they run in-store and online to protect shoppers from catching the deadly bug.
For those of you who are wondering how the latest lockdown will change the rules at your local supermarket, here's a reminder.
Aldi
The German supermarket, has said a customer can only buy three units of toilet roll, pasta, flour and eggs to ensure everyone has a chance to buy these products.
Aldi has introduced a traffic light system to help with social distancing and is encouraging shoppers to pick quieter times to visit the store.
The quietest times are between 7pm and 10pm.
NHS staff, along with emergency workers, will be given priority shopping time.
Waitrose
The supermarket, states on their website shoppers cannot buy more than two units of toilet roll, four packets of pasta, three bags of flour and three boxes of eggs.
On their website, it states they have prioritised disabled, elderly and vulnerable customers whenever there’s a queue outside one of their shops – and will continue to prioritise NHS workers and carers with suitable ID.
For deliveries, drivers will no longer enter properties, but will leave shopping outside of customers' homes.
Sainsbury's
The chain has put queuing systems in place outside of their stores and ask customers to stay two metres apart.
They have rolled out new customer sanitiser stations so shoppers customers can clean their hands, baskets and trollies at the front of their stores.
SmartShop is available in Sainsbury’s supermarkets and helps people spend less time in-store.
The supermarket says it reduces contact by letting you scan your own shopping and check out through a dedicated till area.
Lidl
The budget supermarket recommends shoppers follow their traffic light system to choose the quietest times to shop - from 2pm until stores close.
They've increased their contactless payment limit in all of their supermarkets from £30 to £45.
Lidl has also installed cough and sneeze proof screens at each of their checkouts to help protect their store teams and customers.
Tesco
Tesco is continuing their dedicated hours for vulnerable customers and is giving NHS, emergency service, and care workers priority entry to their stores to help them shop.
The supermarket has buying limits on some specific products, such as toilet roll, flour, pasta, and hand sanitisers.
They have also introduced a limit of one order a week, which means shoppers may be unable to see future delivery slots if they've recently made an order.
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