Toilet paper panic goes global

The toilet paper panic has officially spread.

What started as a desperate dash to the supermarkets in Australia has now gone international.

One woman in Canada tweeted how her local Costco had run out.

Video footage shows the shelves at the bulk buying giant stripped bare.

But others have pointed out there is still plenty of toilet paper at their local store and told people not to panic. One man posted a picture of plenty of rolls in Ontario.

Another woman tweeted pictures from Hornchurch in England, saying she too had joined the "craze".

Others have reported that shelves are close to empty at Walmart in the US.

Tesco in the UK has been forced to introduce limits to five per customer.

It comes after Coles and Woolworths in Australia further reduced their limits to just one pack per customer.

Across the country, stores are running out of toilet paper in the face of coronavirus concerns. A fight erupted in a Sydney Woolworths store on Saturday night as tempers flared over limited supplies of toilet tissue.

Last week a man was tasered after an argument broke out over toilet paper at a Big W in a regional NSW town

Officers were called to the Tamworth store after being told a 50-year-old man began to argue with a staff member and another customer before he allegedly assaulted them.

And a heartbreaking photo went viral after it showed a man being forced to buy tissues because there was no toilet paper left.

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A clinical psychologist weighed in on where the obsession began and what it says about people falling for stockpiling.

Dr Knight, who is also president of the Australian Psychological Society, said the bizarre reaction was likely the result of concerned consumers trying to take ownership of a seemingly helpless endemic.

And she implored Australians to express their anxiety in a healthy way and instead focus on understanding the real dangers of the virus rather than the unnecessary hysteria.

"If you're hearing about a virus that's going to cause a pandemic and it's killing people all over the world, if you're hearing the hype rather than the facts then you go 'what am I going to do to protect myself? I might end up stuck at home for a while so I'll make sure I stock up," she said.

"In reality, of course, it's not necessary or at least definitely not at this point. It's not an appropriate response to the level of threat we're currently under."