SUPERMARKET bosses have urged people in Scotland not to panic buy as a fresh lockdown looms over the UK.

Pictures from south of the Border this weekend showed bare shelves as fears of more restrictions rise.

But food bosses have sought to reassure the public that there’s plenty of stock and delivery slots.

It comes as Nicola Sturgeon is set to provide an update on lockdown “early” this week, with Matt Hancock poised to make his announcement today.

East Lothian Courier: Empty supermarket shelves were a common sight at the start of lockdownEmpty supermarket shelves were a common sight at the start of lockdown

When Scotland first went into lockdown, customers bulk bought essentials like toilet roll, hand sanitiser, pasta and flour.

Andrew Opie, head of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, said: “We urge consumers to be considerate and shop for food as they would usually during this difficult time.”

According to the Mirror, Tesco has more than doubled its online delivery slots rom 600,000 to 1.5million.

Sainsbury's have also said there is "high demand", while Ocado said its home deliveries now have a three day waiting list.

Sainsbury’s also say searches for festive items like puddings have quadrupled as people are already shopping for Christmas.

And, as revealed earlier, Morrisons have tightened social distancing rules at almost 500 stores amid fears of increased demand.

Yesterday, Health Secretary Jeane Freeman announced new lockdown measures should be expected “very shortly” in Scotland.

East Lothian Courier: Empty supermarket shelves were a common sight at the start of lockdownEmpty supermarket shelves were a common sight at the start of lockdown

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, she said:  “We certainly will have an announcement very shortly. Not necessarily today, but definitely by the early part of next week.”

She added that Ms Sturgeon had hoped to have a Cobra meeting with the four nations this weekend to discuss measures “to see if we could reach a shared view”, but that the Prime Minister was still considering the request.

Ms Freeman continued: “We’re not seeing community transmission at this point, but are seeing large clusters and outbreaks of cases in some parts of Scotland.

“So we’re working this weekend with scientific and clinical advisers to understand what might be the additional measures that we can put in place.”

It comes after an increase of 245 positive Covid-19 cases in Scotland on Sunday.

While no new deaths were recorded, figures show that positive cases rose by 545 over the weekend.