Taking no chances! Shoppers dress in full coronavirus protective gear and STILL queue round the block to get into supermarkets as Waitrose bans couples from shopping together and Tesco limits milk, toilet roll and bread to one purchase each (9 Pics)

Shoppers were pictured in full protective gear as they ventured out to get essentials amid the coronavirus lockdown today. 

Britons donned gloves and facemasks on trips to supermarkets nationwide today, after the death toll from the virus reached 1,228 today.

One cautious shopper was even pictured with a respiratory unit covering his entire face in east London. 

It comes as Tesco Express limited purchases of a number of essential items such as milk, bread, eggs and toilet roll to one item per person. 

And Waitrose stores across the country also banned couple's from shopping together as they implement a 'one person per household' policy. 

All supermarkets are now making customers queue six feet apart from one another, in line with the Government's social distancing policy.  

Shoppers were pictured in full protective gear (Ladbroke Gove, west London today) as they ventured out to get essentials amid the coronavirus lockdown today

Britons have hoarded food worth £1billion during the past fortnight as a result of panic buying. Pictured: Queue outside Lidl supermarket in Streatham, London, earlier today

Tesco is limiting customers to just one item of essential goods each across many of its Express stores. Pictured: One shopper wore a full respiratory protection unit with helmet at a Tesco store in Barkingside, East London, earlier today

Tesco shoppers in Walthamstow, London, were notified about the new limit via signs on their shelves.

According to The Sunday Times, it read: 'To help give everyone access to essential items this product is limited to only 1 per customer.'  

The measures are being enforced at the discretion of individual stores based on their ability to cope with local demand and supply. 

A spokeswoman for Tesco said: 'To ensure more people have access to everyday essentials, we have introduced a store-wide restriction of three items per customer on every product line. 

'In a small number of stores where demand is particularly high, our colleagues may need to place further restrictions on some products on a local basis, to ensure everyone can get the things they need.'  

The new measures are being enforced at the discretion of individual stores based on their ability to cope with local demand and supply. Pictured: Member of staff waiting for a delivery in London on Sunday

The chain announced earlier this weekend that online customers would only be allowed to buy a maximum of 80 items for home delivery.

It follows a whole host of other supermarkets introducing similar capping schemes in response to coronavirus stockpiling.

Sainsbury's has a three-item limit on most products apart from long-life milk, toilet roll and soap which all have a restriction of two. 

And Aldi has a four-item cap.

Waitrose also announced that couples can no longer shop together in its stores as it insists only one member of a household can buy groceries at a time.

The regulation was introduced across all 338 of its stores earlier this week. 

The introduction of the new limit comes after young and healthy people were urged to stay away from supermarkets and make meals from food in their cupboards as demand for groceries and household goods surged during the coronavirus lockdown.

Britons have hoarded food worth £1billion during the past fortnight as a result of panic buying - despite assurances from the government and industry that there is still plenty in the supply chain.

The CEO of Tesco has recently been encouraging shoppers who are able to use stores in order to free-up delivery slots for online orders to the elderly and vulnerable. 

But the move has meant that there continue to be lengthy queues outside supermarkets up and down the country as shoppers are forced to maintain their distance as they wait to enter the stores. 

NHS England national medical director Stephen Powis accused panic buyers of depriving healthcare staff of the food supplies they need, adding: 'Frankly we should all be ashamed.'  

Ocado has been operating at full capacity during the crisis and said yesterday it had around ten times more demand for its services than it did before the outbreak began.

Online orders are now limited to one per week per customer, while some items have also been limited to just two per person.

Chief executive of the online delivery service, Lord Stuart Rose, urged consumers to act rationally as he revealed Britons had hoarded an extra £1billion worth of food over the past couple of weeks.

The boss of the UK's biggest retailer Tesco, Dave Lewis, has written to customers to reassure them there is still plenty of food, but asking the young and the healthy to venture out to their local store.

Users of the retail giant's online service have complained they are unable to secure a home delivery slot. 

In his letter, he has asked those who can venture out to shop in-store - while taking appropriate precautions.

Supermarkets have recently moved to enforce more stringent precautions for the safety of staff and customers including limiting the number of shoppers allowed into their stores at any given time. 

Tesco boss Dave Lewis recently wrote to customers saying staff will draw new floor markings in the checkout areas, install protective screens on checkouts, and introduce one-way aisles.

'Our social distancing plans aim to protect customers from the moment they enter our car parks, to browsing products, to paying and finally exiting our stores,' he wrote.

And in a letter to customers, Sainsbury's chief executive Mike Coupe said the number of people allowed in stores and at ATMs at any one time will be limited.

He said queuing systems will be put in place outside stores and people are urged to arrive throughout the day to avoid long queues forming in the morning, and encouraged people to pay by card. 

'We will be reminding people in stores to keep a safe distance from other customers and from our colleagues,' he said.

Mr Coupe said the number of checkouts will be reduced and screens will be introduced.

He said many customers have written to him to say they are elderly or vulnerable and are struggling to book online delivery slots.

'We are doing our absolute best to offer online delivery slots to elderly, disabled and vulnerable customers. 

'These customers have priority over all slots.

'Our customer Careline has been inundated with requests from elderly and vulnerable customers - we have had one year's worth of contacts in two weeks.

'We have proactively contacted 270,000 customers who had already given us information that meant we could identify them as being in these groups,' he said.

Mr Coupe, who apologised to regular online customers, and said they have already booked in slots for 115,000 elderly, disabled and vulnerable customers this week.

Tesco also announced earlier this weekend that online customers would only be allowed to buy a maximum of 80 items for home delivery. Pictured: People wearing protective face masks as they queued outside Sainsbury's supermarket in Streatham, London

Similarly Ocado chairman Lord Stuart Rose issued his own guidance to Brits earlier this week amid the ongoing crisis.  

Lord Rose, 71, who is also a former chairman and chief executive of clothing and food retailer Marks & Spencer, has been in self-isolation after suspecting he had contracted the virus.   

Rose also called on people in the country to 'make your meals work'.

'If you buy a chicken, roast the chicken, have the roast chicken dinner, the following day turn it into a stir fry, the following day make it into soup,' he said.

'You can make a relatively small amount of food go a long way and I think we live in a very profligate society today - we buy too much, we eat too much, we consume too much and we have to learn new ways.' 

'There is a billion pounds more food in people's larders than there was a couple of weeks ago - what are they doing with it? How much food do you need to eat? How much do you need to store away? Please show some restraint,' he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

'There is no shortage of food... Nobody will starve.'

Coronavirus is continuing to spread across the country at an exponential rate. 

Supermarkets have recently moved to enforce more stringent precautions for the safety of staff and customers including limiting the number of shoppers allowed into their stores at any given time. Pictured: Shoppers waiting to enter Sainsbury's at Ladbroke Grove, London