Panic buying follows coronavirus across the globe

Shelves are empty of toilet rolls in a supermarket in Sydney on March 4, 2020 after the global spread of coronavirus sparked a spate of panic buying Down Under. - AFP

HONG KONG (AFP): Shelves are being stripped bare of toilet rolls, hand sanitiser and surgical masks everywhere from Japan to France to the United States as panic buying criss-crosses the globe with the coronavirus, defying repeated calls for calm and disrupting supply chains.

Obsessively documented on social media, scrambles to the shops and empty shelves are adding panic and confusion to the fight against an epidemic that has killed thousands, placed millions under quarantine and battered global markets.