London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

Why are people stockpiling toilet paper?

Photographs of shops in a number of countries being completely bare of toilet paper have emerged on social media.
Loo roll packs in Australia have been put up for sale online for up to AU$1,000,000 (£51,3912), and someone attempted to sell a single sheet ‘as new’ on Sydney’s Facebook Marketplace for £514.

#Toiletpaper has been trending on Twitter and other hygiene products and household goods including bleach, rice, pasta and hand sanitiser have been hugely popular sellers, with antibacterial gel being sold on Amazon for £360.

So what is causing this panic buying?

Why is there a toilet paper shortage?

Even though the authorities have maintained that it is not necessary, shoppers have been stockpiling in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak.

This has resulted in an international shortage of toilet paper.

Sharon Reilly took pictures of a store in Massachusetts, United States, noting that toilet paper stocks were low and ‘all the bleach was gone too’.

She said: ‘It did not make me feel like I needed to stockpile. It made me sad that people are clearly scared.’

Franziska Heintel shared photos of empty supermarket shelves in Berlin. She said: ‘I’m not sure if it’s an accurate representation and I don’t want to make people panic even more.

‘There’s probably plenty of stores here that didn’t sell out of stuff yet. I was just super shocked and surprised to see this when I was just doing some regular shopping.’

Anne Stubbs tweeted: ‘The world’s gone mad! 3 supermarkets – no toilet roll! Last I heard #coronavirus causes a flu-like illness not wild, explosive diarrhoea!

‘Scored possibly the last pack in the whole of Brisbane!’ she added.

Meanwhile UK resident Maxine Craddock quipped in a tweet: ‘Have asked for hand sanitizer and loo roll for Mother’s Day’, and London-based Lou Paterson shared photographs of bare shelves on his shopping trip, tweeting: ‘In my local Sainsburys earlier today. I can confirm toilet roll is being stock-piled’.

Meanwhile in Sydney, Australia, police were called to a Woolworths supermarket over reports that a man and a woman had been fighting over toilet paper, and that one of those involved was carrying a knife.

Thankfully no-one was injured in the confrontation, with a witness telling Daily Mail Australia: ‘There was a fight over toilet paper – you could hear a commotion coming from down the end aisle.

‘There was a knife pulled and the people started running around. It was all over in a few moments, security were here and police came and talked to a woman.’

Sir Patrick Vallance, the UK Government’s chief scientific adviser, has said there was no need for Britons to panic buy.

‘I think the advice is that there is absolutely no reason to be doing any panic buying of any sort or going out and keeping large supplies of things,’ he told reporters.

‘Clearly there will need to be measures in cases of household quarantine for making sure food is in the right place at the right time.

‘We imagine that could be a rolling case of household quarantine if that measure becomes necessary, and clearly things will need to be in place for care homes and so on if that decision is made.’
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
×