A HEARTBREAKING photograph of an elderly man staring at empty shelves in Sainsbury’s has captured the reality of people panic-buying during the coronavirus pandemic.

The poignant image shows the man staring down at a shopping list in front of bare shelves in his local store in Epsom, Surrey.

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10 A photograph of an elderly man staring at empty shelves in a Sainsbury's store in Epsom has gone viral Credit: Mercury Press

10 A lady looking at empty shelves in a Sainsbury's store in London on Wednesday morning Credit: Press Association

Lauren Taylor, 34, took the picture in the hope of encouraging the public to stop stockpiling and help take care of the elderly.

The mum-of-two's photo has since gone viral and has racked up more than 200,000 likes on social media.

She said: "It was awful and just really sad. That was only one aisle and the others were in a similar state of empty shelves.

"People were grabbing lots of the stuff that were still on the shelves.

"AWFUL"

"It's really just sad and disappointing in society that it's got to this point.

"Everyone needs stuff, but he had been left with nothing."

Other pictures show elderly people struggling to find items in London supermarkets after shoppers rushed out to panic-buy food and essentials during the crisis.

It comes after the UK’s youngest coronavirus victim was last night named as 45-year-old Craig Ruston - as his devastated wife paid an emotional tribute.

The "amazing" father-of-two, from Kettering, Northants, who had motor neurone disease, succumbed to the killer bug in hospital on Monday.

In the UK, coronavirus has killed 71 people while a total of 1,950 have been struck down with the illness.

After taking the photograph, Lauren shared it in a family WhatsApp group.

Her sister, Milli, 33, from South West London, posted the image on Instagram where it racked up almost 200,000 likes.

Lauren said: "I didn't expect it to go so viral.

"I just wanted to share it with my family who are dotted around the world to compare and prepare my sister for what she was coming back to after a holiday.

It comes as....

"I just want people to think about their own grandparents who will have to go through more suffering. It must be scary for them.

“If everyone just bought responsibly in the first place these issues wouldn't have arose in the first place but if everyone buys double, it might be enough to empty the shelves."

Caterer Milli added: "I was in Sri Lanka so hadn't been watching the news and there were only two cases over there so it wasn't really a talking point.

"I thought the photo was shocking so I had to share it. I didn't know what we were coming home to.

"It was pretty bleak. You have to be careful not to judge a full trolley because they might be shopping for a large family in isolation.

“But it seems that people have been over buying and not thinking about everyone else that may be in the same or worse situation."

Earlier shoppers were filmed brawling over toilet paper and booze in a Home Bargains store in Nottingham.

Desperate staff could be seen screaming at the yobs as they crushed other shoppers to get their hands on new stock.

One young woman frantically clung on to packets of toilet paper as stampeding thugs wrestled the product from under her.

Other stunned workers were heard calling for calm after the brawl erupted at the budget store yesterday.

SUPERMARKET SCRAPS

Social media users compared the panic buyers to "animals" after the footage was shared online.

Meanwhile, Sainsbury’s will today limit sales of every item in its stores as it tries to stamp out panic buying.

Customers will be able to buy a maximum of three of any grocery item and two of the most popular products, such as toilet paper, soap and UHT milk.

And older shoppers will have stores to themselves for the first hour of opening from tomorrow - plus get priority home delivery slots from Monday.

Boss Mike Coupe said in a letter: “We have enough food coming into the system, but are limiting sales so that it stays on shelves for longer and can be bought by a larger numbers of customers.”

Mr Ruston's heartbroken wife Sally broke news of the death on her husband's Facebook page "Me and my MND".

She said: “My amazing Craig passed away yesterday morning at 6.20am. We are truly heartbroken.

"Last Tuesday he was taken unwell and we have since spent the last 6 days in isolation.

"Craig’s chest infection was confirmed as Covid-19.

"How dare that take Craig who was already facing this (MND), the most vile and evil of diseases.”

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Meanwhile, baby and nine-month-old boy have been diagnosed with coronavirus as the killer bug continues to sweep the UK.

In the first case, nine-month-old Cassian Coates was rushed to hospital by his worried parents because he had a cold and fever.

His parents, Myroslava and Callum Caotes, were then stunned when staff put a “big sign up” near them which read “suspected case”.

She said a nurse walked past them in Manchester and gave them the terrifying news by saying: “Yeah, that’s you guys”.

Cassian, who is just nine-months-old, was then assessed by a doctor who confirmed he had the symptoms and said: “Yeah, it’s the coronavirus strand.”

The news of Cassian's diagnosis came just hours before a baby at the James Paget University Hospital in Norfolk was confirmed to have the killer bug.

The baby was one of three patients who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 at the hospital in Great Yarmouth and the trio remain in isolation.

Supermarket shoppers fight over loo roll and panic buy booze in UK coronavirus lockdown chaos

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10 Empty shelves this morning at the Iceland store in Petts Wood, Greater London Credit: London News Pictures

10 A man with a shopping trolley walking past empty shelves in a Sainsbury's store in London Credit: Press Association

10 Lauren Taylor, 34, took the picture of the man in her local Sainsbury's store. Her sister Milli, pictured, posted it online and it has since gone viral Credit: Mercury Press

10 Cassian Coates has been told he has coronavirus Credit: Sky News

10 Desperate shoppers scrambled for toilet paper in Nottingham

10 Craig Ruston, 45, is the UK's youngest coronavirus victim

Craig's wife Sally said she was devastated her husband's life had been claimed by the virus as he was fighting MND Credit: Facebook

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