Hong Kong, China: Armed burglars who took many toilet rolls were being pursued by Hong Kong police on Monday, in a city gripped by scarcities brought about by coronavirus panic purchasing.

Toilet paper has become hot property in the thickly pressed business center point, regardless of government confirmations that provisions will stay unaffected by the coronavirus episode.

Grocery stores have found themselves incapable of restocking supplies quickly, prompting once in a while extensive lines and shelves emptied within minutes of opening.

Along with toilet rolls, there has been a sudden spike in demand for staples like rice and pasta, just like hand sanitizer and other cleaning things.

Police said that a truck driver was held up early Monday by three men outside a market in Mong Kok, a working-class area with a past filled with “triad” organized crime cartels.

“A delivery man was compromised by three knife-wielding men who took bathroom tissue’s worth more than HK$1,000 ($130),” a police representative told AFP.

Footage from Now TV indicated police agents standing around numerous boxes of toilet rolls outside a Wellcome supermarket store. One of the containers was just half stacked.

The insanity that has moved through Hong Kong since the coronavirus episode exploded on mainland China is mostly fuelled by the city’s unfortunate ongoing history of standing up to a fatal illness.

In 2003, 299 Hong Kongers died of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), a flare-up that started on the mainland china but was at first concealed by Beijing, a choice that left an enduring heritage of doubt towards the authorities on general medical problems.

The current year’s coronavirus outbreak likewise comes when the city’s pro-Beijing authority has notable low approval ratings in the wake of declining to bow to long stretches of pro-democracy protests last year.

Specialists have criticized bogus online rumors for the panic purchasing and stated that supplies of food and household merchandise stay stable.

In any case, panic purchasing has itself made deficiencies in one of the world’s most densely populated urban areas where stores and drug stores have restricted floor space.