COVID-19 has spurred a supermarket buy-up frenzy, with local shelves stripped of essentials, including toilet paper, cleaning products, canned food, pasta and meat.

In response, Woolworths announced on Monday it would be introducing a dedicated shopping hour for the elderly and people with disability, later followed by a similar announcement from Coles.

The initiative will include all Gawler stores and will see both Coles and Woolworths open from 7am to 8am, exclusively for the elderly and those with a disability to ensure they have access to the products they need.

Coles will also welcome Health Care Card holders, and has begun a recruitment drive for 5000 additional casual staff members to improve its delivery of service.

All Woolworths and Coles stores will now also be closing at 8pm each night to allow for additional store cleaning and restocking.

Woolworths Supermarkets managing director Claire Peters said staff are continuing to do their best to restock shelves during this period of unprecedented demand.

“We continue to encourage all Australians to be mindful of those in our communities who might need extra help at this time,” she said.

“Now – more than ever – we need to be kind to each other, especially to those most vulnerable.”

On Sunday, Woolworths announced it would be suspending its online ‘pick-up’ service due to temporary shortages on a number of items and to allow teams to focus on serving customers in-store.

Coles announced on Monday it would follow suit, pausing its ‘click and collect’ service and directing its delivery service to those most in need.

Quantity limits currently apply in Woolworths to dry pasta, flour, tissues, paper towels, serviettes and wipes, toilet paper, hand sanitiser and bulk rice (of 2kg or more).

Coles currently has limits on similar products as well as mince beef, pork, lamb, chicken and turkey.

Meanwhile, after last week publicly stating it still had plenty of stock, Drakes supermarkets has also recently introduced quantity restrictions on some products.