Chaos has erupted in some areas as supermarkets have imposed limits on how many items customers can buy. Hundreds of shoppers have thronged aisles of supermarkets as they struggle to buy up as many consumer staples - rice, water, meat, noodles etc. - as they can again on Friday. Chinese-ruled Hong Kong has reported 25 cases of the virus and one of only three deaths outside the mainland.

"Everyone's snatching whatever they can get. I don't even know what's going on," said a 72-year-old woman surnamed Li as she clutched two bags of toilet rolls.

The situation in Hong Kong right now is incredibly tense. Many still have horrible memories from the SARS outbreak of  2002-2003, which killed roughly 300 people as it swept through the city. But the scare also comes after months of anti-Beijing protests by the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement.