SYDNEY: The dreaded coronavirus has been hitting a peak for just a few days, but the two icons of the Aussie grocery industries – Coles and Woolworths – have already been feeling the pinch.

Thing  are not quite as bad as was originally thought, however. A number of alleged news outlets yesterday morning claimed that Woolies was suspending all online orders and click-and-collect services around Australia.

That turned out to be a bit of fake news. According to Woolies, most delivery services have continued as normal across most of Australia, with the exception of parts of Victoria, where they were “temporarily paused”.

Woolies stores were to open at 7am today, exclusively for the elderly and customers with disabilities, before being available to the general public at 8am.

It was unclear whether that arrangement would become the norm. Meanwhile Coles has been saying that it’s adding more high-demand items to the limited purchase list, already used for toilet paper purchases. These include certain long-life foods and frozen goods.

According to a Coles consumer message: “There is enough for everyone, if people shop as they would normally shop.”  Amen to that …