QUEENSLANDERS are taking virus prevention to the absolute extreme, donning gasmasks and even fashioning homemade hazmat suits.

One particularly corona-cautious shopper was spotted wearing a yellow helmet with a clear, full-face plastic veil and a large gas mask for his trip to Keperra Aldi yesterday.

It was a sight that left fellow customers gob smacked.

"Everyone's faces were priceless … everyone was taking a double take," a Brisbane shopper said.

Some would call the stunt paranoia while others would deem it preservation - whatever the case, shoppers said the man wasn't concerned with labels.

"He was maybe in his early 60s … he just did his shopping and generated a few interesting looks."

He was one of many that took to the shops to stockpile for the pandemic with "plenty of people buying 10-packs of pasta and all the milk in the world."

One Queensland mother had reportedly stockpiled 50 kilograms each of rice and lentils as well as gathering a collection of canned goods, medicine and even defensive weapons.

A Sydney woman videoed herself buying an industrial respiratory mask for virus prevention, saying she's "not taking chances".

Overseas, Chinese shoppers have been seen wearing raincoats, gloves, goggles and surgical masks, while in a UK supermarket, a man was spotted filling a trolley with meat dressed in a head-to-toe clinical hazmat suit.