Newspaper prints extra pages to use as toilet paper amid coronavirus

An Australian newspaper came up with a novel solution by printing eight extra pages to use as toilet paper to tackle the toilet paper shortage amid coronavirus fears.

Australians have been panic-buying so much toilet paper, in fact, that some supermarket shelves have been left bare, reported NDTV.

On Thursday, the newspaper printed a special eight-page insert with watermarks and a cut-out guide that people could use as toilet paper and the unconventional idea has left many in splits.

According to The Guardian, NT News is a Darwin-based newspaper famous for its humorous front pages. NT News also shared a video of the special edition newspaper on Twitter:

The video has garnered more than 2.8 lakh views and over 5,000 'likes', along with a ton of amused responses.

"Hahaha I love this paper!" wrote one person in the comments section. "This is genius," said another.

The newspaper's editor, Matt Williams, told The Guardian that it was selling well. "We are a newspaper known around the world who understands the needs of our readers," he said. "Territorians … are in great need of toilet paper right now so we had to deliver what they needed."

The bulk buying of toilet paper in Australia led to the viral hashtags #ToiletPaperEmergency and #ToiletPaperApocalypse and inspired a ton of memes.

Australia's major grocers put strict limits on purchases of toilet paper on Wednesday after a rush of panic buying related to coronavirus fears emptied shelves, as the country recorded its third case of local transmission of the disease. Australia has reported 42 cases of the coronavirus - the bulk of whom were evacuees from a cruise ship docked in Japan - and just three cases where people who have not left the country have been infected.