UK supermarkets have banned families and couples shopping together - from today

Supermarkets have set a ban on families and couples shopping together ahead of England's month-long lockdown.

As of today, tight lockdown restrictions have come into play across the country for a second time, in a bid to slow down the spread of coronavirus and prevent a dangerous strain on NHS hospitals.

As part of the battle against the virus, supermarkets have changed their rules to help customers stick to social distancing measures and reduce the number of unnecessary shoppers in the store at once.

Shoppers are being told to shop alone, with one adult per household in store, and to leave their children at home where possible.

If you arrive to do your shopping with multiple adults from the same household, one will likely be told to wait outside.

Big name stores Tesco, Waitrose and Sainsbury's have reminded customers that they are to shop alone and not bring family members or partners with them, in order to cut queues and keep the standard of social distancing as high as possible.

CEO of Sainsbury's Simon Roberts said in a statement, "Where possible, we ask that you only send one adult per household when you shop with us.

"This will help us manage the number of people in our stores and make your shop quicker and smoother."

Meanwhile, the Sainsbury's website reads, 'Our store teams will be asking groups with more than one adult to choose one adult to shop and will ask other adults to wait.

'Children are welcome if they are not able to stay at home.'

Tesco have set the same rule, explaining that 'only one person from each household should come in-store to do their shopping', while Waitrose have asked customers, 'help us manage the number of people in our shops by sending only one member of the household to do their shopping'.

'While this won’t be possible for everybody, we are very grateful for our customers’ support during this time of uncertainty,' the higher end chain has added.

Budget favourite Aldi have set out similar guidance, explaining, "In order to help with social distancing, we are encouraging all customers to try and reduce the number of family members they bring with them into our stores."