panic buying in the east!

6th February 2020: 

​People in Hong Kong have taken this coronavirus outbreak seriously-my brother sends me photos of empty shelves in the supermarkets as people have started stockpiling products in fear of this coronavirus which they think has now reached the island. And what of all things are they clearing off the shelves-toilet paper !! This seems both ridiculous and hilarious! We wonder what he will substitute for that if he really does run out! The jokes amongst the family run rampant about this... and I find myself looking up any online shops that will deliver toilet paper from the UK to Hong Kong! As far as I know diarrhoea hasn't been a documented symptom of the virus! So why are people clearing the shelves? It's unimaginable our shops ever running out of anything (apart from the occasional latest in-demand toy at Christmas maybe-not having children myself has never exposed me to such commercial demand and disappointment! Lest I forget not getting tickets to see Robbie Williams in concert once, which sold out within minutes of the phone lines opening...).  But why is stockpiling even happening? Will they not be able to go out of their homes? I can't see another reason to do this! But if so that would suggest that this is highly contagious..although shopping on mass doesn't seem the sensible thing to do either in that case..