Hongkongers Buy Up Essentials as Coronavirus Fears Mount

Customers wear masks as they pick facial tissues in a supermarket, following the outbreak of a new coronavirus, in Hong Kong, China on Feb. 7, 2020. Tyrone Siu/Reuters

HONG KONG—Panicky Hong Kong residents scooped noodles, rice, meat and toilet paper into shopping carts on Feb. 7 despite government assurances of ample supplies during an outbreak of a new coronavirus that started in mainland China.

Chinese-ruled Hong Kong has reported 25 cases of the fast-spreading virus and one of only two deaths outside mainland China.