Australian paper prints blank pages to help tackle toilet paper shortage

An Australian newspaper on Thursday jokingly printed blank pages with marked cut lines for readers to use it as toilet paper as the sanitary products have reportedly sold out in stores across the country amid fears over the coronavirus outbreak.

The NT News printed an eight-page liftout of blank pages with guidelines to cut out in its Thursday paper. 

YES, WE ACTUALLY DID PRINT IT #toiletpapercrisis pic.twitter.com/jusP50ojYu

— The NT News (@TheNTNews) March 4, 2020

“Runt out of loo paper? The NT News cares. That’s why we’ve printed an EIGHT-PAGE special liftout inside, complete with handy cut lines, for you to use in an emergency,” the newspaper’s ad read. 

AAAANNNDDD HERE IS WHAT THE PAGES LOOK LIKE pic.twitter.com/107JbNepUr

— The NT News (@TheNTNews) March 4, 2020

The NT News editor Matt Williams told Guardian Australia the paper was selling well and was “certainly not a crappy edition.”

“Territorians … are in great need of toilet paper right now so we had to deliver what they needed,” he added.

A supermarket in the city of Brisbane had shelves empty of toilet paper Wednesday, CNN reported. 

Australia’s chief medical officer Brendan Murphy has reportedly urged people not to buy supplies in a panic. 

A similar trend has happened in America, with customers reportedly clearing shelves of hand sanitizer, cleaning wipes and toilet paper. 

Fifty-five confirmed cases of the virus have been reported in Australia, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins.