Tesco is the latest supermarket chain to offer special shopping hours for elderly and vulnerable customers, with its Shepton Mallet store offering three slots a week.

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday between 9am and 10am, more vulnerable and elderly customers will be welcomed, and Tesco asks other customers to respect this.

From tomorrow (March 19) Tesco is also implementing a rule where no one can buy more than three of any item, and multi-buy promotions are being removed.

All meat, fish, deli counters and salad bars are also being closed to allow the staff more time to restock the shelves.

In a statement, Tesco CEO Dave Lewis said: "It is fair to say that we find ourselves in uncharted waters.

"Covid-19 is bringing a change to the UK and it's clear that lots of things are going to have to shift around in order to help us cope.

"At Tesco, we have been doing everything we can to keep business as usual, but we now have to accept it is not business as usual.

"In the last two weeks, we have seen significant and prolonged increases in demand across all of our stores and this is leading to shortages in some products for some customers.

"Reacting to the latest government announcements, we have to plan on this situation being the new normal and we will do all that we can to make the food you want available, but we need your help.

"In order to protect the core shopping essentials, we are going to implement some changes in our stores.

"The changes are designed to simplify what we do so that we can provide more of what people need in a clean and safe environment. We ask for your understanding and your support.

"To be able to ensure our stores are clean, that we can replenish stock, and allow our colleagues to rest, we will change our trading hours with all stores closing at 10pm.

"To ensure we are doing everything possible to reduce the risk of infection for both our customers and colleagues, we will be introducing some distancing measures at the checkout and, to make it swifter, invite customers who can, to pay by card.

"To help free up slots for the more vulnerable, such as our elderly customers and those who are self-isolating, we are encouraging customers who shop online or choose Click+Collect for their grocery home shopping, to prioritise shopping in-store where possible.

"Tesco store colleagues can't work from home and a good number of them will need to respond to personal or family challenges connected with dealing with Covid-19.

"So we would please ask that you understand the challenging environment in which we are all working. If you do go in-store and want to say thank you, then I'm sure they'd appreciate it.

"So, if you could help us by limiting demand of essential items and allowing us to focus on the core needs of our customers – we are confident that we can continue to feed the nation.

"We are delivering food daily to our stores, but this is a very challenging time and we will only get through this if we work together."