Supermarkets, chemists sell out of sanitisers as coronavirus fears intensify

Customers are rushing to buy hand sanitisers amid fears the novel coronavirus will become a global pandemic, with some chemists placing limits on how many people can buy.

Pharmacy chain Priceline has sold out of almost all of its antibacterial hand sanitising products online.

Yucando Garcia, who manages Priceline's Wynyard store in Sydney's CBD, said his shop could not keep up with the demand for hand sanitisers.

"We have actually been out of stock for a good three weeks. Anytime we get a little bit of stock, maybe 12-24 in one day, they go," Mr Garcia said.

"We obviously say to each person there is a maximum of two or three because we want everybody to be able to buy some."

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A Priceline spokesperson said while customer limits did not stem from a national directive, some pockets of stores had implemented the measure to help distribute supplies fairly.

Mr Garcia said sales of its largest 1L bottles of hand sanitiser had skyrocketed at the Wynyard store.

While the pharmacy would usually only sell about five bottles a month, this month it had sold 72, he said.

"The only reason we haven't sold more is because they have been out of stock. If we were able to get 1000, we would have sold 1000," he added.

Mr Garcia said face masks were also flying off the shelves

"Yesterday, when I left work at 6.45pm we had 50 packs of five masks. But now they have all gone," Mr Garcia said.

A Coles spokesperson said the supermarket chain was also running low on its hand sanitising products.

"Coles is currently experiencing a shortage of some antibacterial handwashes and hand sanitiser products due to extremely high customer demand," a spokesperson said.

"While we are working closely with our suppliers to improve availability, some products may be temporarily out of stock."

Meanwhile, Coles is also expecting some other items to be impacted by supply chain issues coming out of China because of the coronavirus.

"There are shortages forecast for non-food items like stationery, clothing, [and] electrical goods," the spokesperson said.

"Coles has also experienced delays in refrigeration equipment being shipped out of China for our store renewals.

"Logistics remain challenging, especially through some major ports and, like most retailers, we have been impacted by the extension of Chinese New Year, which saw factories closed for longer than planned and delays in production due to staff requiring government permits to return to work."

Craig Jones the CEO and founder of Australian skin care range, MooGoo, said his company's entire six-month stock of anti-bacterial hand-gel was gone from chemist shelves in just four days.

"We then made a backup batch and sold out of that too," Mr Jones said.

The coronavirus has since spread to more than 30 countries across the world.

Despite significant efforts to contain the virus, the number of cases outside Asia have shot up over the past week, with Italy currently experiencing the largest outbreak in Europe.

According to the World Health Organisation, the reported the number of new coronavirus cases outside China has exceeded the number of fresh cases in China for the first time.

Got a story? Contact reporter Emily McPherson at emcpherson@nine.com.au.