Ocado has shut down its website until Saturday as it moves to ensure equal supply.

Melanie Smith, chief executive of Ocado Retail, said the shutdown will allow the company to create a fair system for allocation of delivery slots.

She said: "Like all supermarkets, we are working round the clock to keep up with high demand and make sure all of our customers get what they need at this time – especially those more vulnerable and in isolation.

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"As a result, we have made a decision to temporarily close access to Ocado.com so you will not be able to edit an existing order or book a new delivery for the next few days.

"This temporary closure will allow us to complete essential work that will help to make sure distribution of products and delivery slots is as fair and accessible as possible for all our loyal customers."

Ms Smith added: "We are fully booked for the next four days. If you have a delivery booked for Thursday or Friday, cut-off times for editing these orders have already passed, but your driver will still arrive as expected."

Customers with an existing order booked for delivery from Saturday onwards will be contacted later this week with details of how to edit their orders and the website will reopen to all customers from Saturday, it said.

Ms Smith added: "We are very sorry to cause any inconvenience.

"We’re managing a simply staggering amount of traffic to our website right now and more demand for products and deliveries than we can meet.

"Our first priority has to be to keep our service up and running and to play our part in feeding the nation.

BrewDog has announced that it will now be making hand sanitiser at its distillery in Scotland.

The brewery said on Instagram that it wanted to "try and help as many people as possible stay safe" during the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Say hello to Punk Sanitiser... It's time to keep it clean," its statement read.

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James Watt of BrewDog also said: "Just to be clear, we will not be selling the sanitiser. But giving it away to those who need it."

Deeside Distillery in Scotland has also announced that it is making hand sanitiser to give to local schools and food banks.

In a statement, the distillery said: "We have been completely overwhelmed by the number of organisations that have contacted us regarding shortages of hand sanitiser.

"We are doing what we can to ensure that the frontline and primary care providers have stocks, including nurseries, schools, care homes and medical centres."

UKHospitality warned that the Government has 24 hours to save one million jobs across the UK's pubs, restaurants, bars, hotels and leisure attractions.

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Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality said: "Our analysis suggests in excess of one million jobs are now on the line. Job cuts are extraordinarily deep and they are happening now - today and tomorrow - and are snowballing."

No official data has yet been released on how many jobs have been lost in the UK.