The Armidale Express understands that stores from Moree to Armidale are experiencing lifts in sales as part of Australia's preparation for the spread of the coronavirus.

Bigger supermarkets and variety stores have reassured their customers that such items as toilet paper, hand wash, hand sanitiser, soap, tissues, paper towels and multi-vitamins will be back on the shelves within of in less than 24 hours.

RELATED READING:

While the shelves in some chemist shops and discount stores may take a little longer to replace items, depending on their ordering systems, The Armidale Express was told by all the retail outlets that there was no physical shortage of any of the items being rushed.

One supermarket manager said there simply was no shortage of anything. Some shelves were empty because there had been a spike in trade across the board, with customers buying everything from canned food to cleaning products.

One man leaving a supermarket was carrying two packs of six roles of toilet paper and when asked if that was his usual purchase he replied yes.

"I have a wife and four kids and we use about this much every fortnight, but this fortnight I had to really search around to find this," he said.

A manager of a variety store also made an observation around this, saying, as a regional community, those who only shopped once a month or once a week could be greatly inconvenienced by sudden surges of unexpected bulk buying.

However, while there were temporary shortages of some items, the supermarkets in particular have ordering and delivery systems geared for rapid warehouse to shelf logistics included as a common feature.

At Midnight on March 4, Australia had 41 confirmed cases of COVID-19, but experts are saying that it is preparation, not panic that is needed now, and we can prepare conveniently.

Click here and you can subscribe to everything The Armidale Express has to offer.