Yoshimi Yamaguchi/Business Insider Japan
A store shelf in Japan.
- Business Insider's international editors visited grocery stores and pharmacies around the world to look for signs of the coronavirus' influence on shopping habits.
- Their photos show empty or near-empty store shelves in Japan, France, Poland, and the Netherlands.
- In Japan, one store posted a sign limiting items to one per customer.
- A different retailer in Japan displayed a sign teasing that it permitted "only" 10 packages of toilet paper per person.
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Photos from supermarkets in Japan, the Netherlands, France, and Poland show that coronavirus-fueled panic buying isn't limited to a single geographic area.
While shoppers in the US flocked to Costco over the weekend to buy hand sanitizer, food, and medical supplies, people around the world also stocked up. Local governments and authorities have said there is no need to panic.
Reporters and editors at Business Insider's international sites visited local supermarkets and pharmacies to document what they saw, including dwindling supplies of pasta in France and empty toilet paper shelves in Japan.