TESCO's superstores at Lakeside and Pitsea will be closing two hours earlier for the foreseeable future and introducing special morning shopping sessions for the vulnerable and elderly.

Shopping restrictions are also being implemented in response to people over-buying amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Tesco CEO Dave Lewis has announced a series of measures and in a statement says: "It is fair to say that we find ourselves in uncharted waters.

"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."

From today (Thurs) Tesco will implement the following changes:

• A priority shopping hour every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning between 9am and 10am for vulnerable and elderly customers (except Express stores) - other customers are asked to respect this not to go to stores at this time
• A storewide restriction of three items per customer on every product line
• Doing away with multi-buy promotions
• Closing all meat, fish, deli counters and salad bars to allow staff to focus on stocking shelves
• All stores will close at 10pm to ensure supermarkets are clean, stock can be replenished and give staff time to rest
• Introduction of checkout 'distancing measures' including two floor markings - green to show where customers should stand to pack and pay and red indicating where they must not stand or queue
• Encouraging customers who shop online or choose Click+Collect for their grocery home shopping, to prioritise shopping in-store where possible to help free up slots for elderly customers and those self-isolating