Here's why people panic-buying toilet roll in response to the coronavirus

UK supermarkets are placing per-customer limits on items such as pasta, hand soap, long-life milk and toilet paper to stop shoppers clearing out their stocks.

Reports of panic-buying have emerged from all over the world as the coronavirus continues to spread.

Toilet paper in particular has been in the spotlight after video of people fighting over rolls of it in an Australian supermarket went viral and images of empty shelves have cropped up all over the internet.

Here’s why people are bulk-buying toilet roll - and whether it’s a good idea.

Why are people panic-buying toilet roll?

Naturally, no-one believes that toilet paper will provide them with any kind of special protection against the coronavirus.

However, faced with the prospect of self-isolation and being directed to stay home for an extended period of time, no-one wants to run out of the essentials.

Consumer behaviour expert Dr Rohan Miller told the BBC that "I think people want to make sure they have some comforts in their lives if they're going to be shacked up with their family for a long time.”

This is why items like toilet roll find themselves on people’s panic-buy lists alongside the items necessary for survival:"Toilet paper doesn't really matter - it's just so far down the survival list compared to other things like food or water - but it's just something people cling to as a minimum standard."

At a time when no-one knows exactly what to expect from this virus, preparations like this can help people to feel more in control, according to Professor Nikita Garg from the University of South Wales.

She told the BBC that, unlike with the natural disasters which many people are used to preparing for “People aren't certain as to how things are going to pan out, or how much worse it's going to get. They want to be prepared because it's the one thing they can do to get some sense of control."

Panic-buying also tends to provoke more panic-buying due to a psychological phenomenon known as FOMO syndrome - Fear Of Missing Out.

Professor Garg said that some will panic-buy because “They think if this person is buying it, if my neighbour is buying there's got to be a reason and I need to get in too."