Supermarket lockdown rules: Aldi, Waitrose, Sainsbury's, Lidl and Tesco guidance

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.

The rules mean 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, which has shop in Cowes and Lake, 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, which has a branch in East Cowes, 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, which can be found in Lake and Newport, 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.

Morrisons 

Morrisons has urged customers to be patient and have pledged to increase production where possible to meet high demand.

They said: "Our website shows all available delivery slots - there are no further slots other than those shown.

"We are increasing production where possible so that we can service the high levels of customer demand we are currently seeing. Please be patient and continue to check the website for our latest range."

ASDA

Asda has said that it currently has strong product availability across its stores and depots with employees working around the clock to keep shelves stocked.

Asda is also asking customers to play their part by continuing to shop considerately and not buy more than they normally would.

Asda CEO and President, Roger Burnley, said: “As Covid restrictions are tightened across the UK to protect our health, we will continue to do all we can to keep colleagues and customers safe in store as we have since the start of the pandemic.

“Our stores and distribution centres have proved to be highly resilient to the challenges of a national lockdown and we are confident that we can continue to deliver choice and value for customers in the weeks ahead. We are asking customers can play their part too by continuing to shop considerately and respecting social distancing when they visit our stores.”