A truck transporting toilet paper exploded in the middle of the road, in Brisbane, Australia, late on Wednesday, March 4. With the coronavirus panic setting in, there were several reports of toilet papers being stockpiled. This incident has added to the anxiety, however, many saw the humour in the incident.
The driver quickly came out of the truck, with no injuries, Reuters reported. No other vehicle was involved in the incident. Although almost the whole cargo remained unaffected, that didn't stop people from panicking due to supply shortage, mostly due to the spread of novel coronavirus.
Panic and Humour
Australia's chief medical officer, Brendan Murphy, tried to ease panic, on Thursday. "There is no reason to denude the shelves of lavatory paper in the supermarkets," Murphy told a news conference in capital Canberra. Panic buying toilet paper wasn't a "proportionate or sensible thing to do at this time", he told the Parliament.
Government has urged people not to stockpile and PM Scott Morrison has asked the consumers to keep their calm and not worry about toilet papers. Still, they were bought in such large amounts that supermarket chains Woolworths and Coles had to limit the amount people could buy, to four packs/person. However, the issue was a tool for humour, for many. Australia's NT News published eight blank pages, on Thursday and said that it was proving what people needed.
#ToiletPaperEmergency and #ToiletPaperApocalypse were trending on Twitter. Several humorous clips and tweets were shared online.
Coronavirus in Australia
Australia reported its first coronavirus case on January 25, in three men who had recently travelled to China. As on Thursday, the Pacific island nation has reported as many as 52 cases of Covid-19 infection, along with two fatalities. The virus has spread to over 60 countries, infecting more than 95,000 people and killing over 3,200.
