[Video] Panic buying hits New York as woman in her 30s becomes the city's first confirmed coronavirus patient

Anxious shoppers have been pictured in New York supermarkets emptying shelves amid fears about coronavirus spread.

Panic buying hit the city as New York had its first confirmed case of the virus on Sunday and it reached at least 77 cases nationwide, with two patient deaths.

Two deaths related to coronavirus have been reported as a resident of the Life Care Center nursing home and a patient at the EvergreenHealth hospital in Kirkland, Washington state.

The spread of the disease, which originated in China and has seen more than 89,000 cases worldwide and more than 3,000 deaths, has caused the epidemic to cause panic buying in the worst-hit areas.

Videos of shoppers rushing to stock up on toilet paper, bottled water, disinfectant wipes and sanitizer emerged on social media at a Costco in Brooklyn, New York, over the weekend.

Peoplewere also seen scrambling Sunday at a Chinese supermarket in Flushing, Queens, to get hold of food.

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