Filipinos queue for face masks as country sees first coronavirus death outside China
Filipinos queue for face masks as country sees first coronavirus death outside China

Panic-stricken Filipinos are converging on shops to buy face masks after the first person outside of China died in the country from coronavirus.

Footage filmed on February 2 shows long lines of people gathered outside medical supplies stores along Bambang Street in Manila City.

In the video, some of the customers can be seen jostling among themselves because of the limited supplies of masks.

Onlooker Michael Delizo said: "People start gathering even before the stores open.

Some of the customers fight for the limited supplies.'' The high demand for masks in the Philippines started when the Taal Volcano erupted in January and spewed ashes that affected several cities in the Luzon island of the country.

The demand has become even higher when cases of coronavirus in the Philippines were confirmed.

Health officials in China, said on Monday (Feb 3) that total cases have exceeded 17,000, with nearly 3,000 new cases in 24 hours, and 361 people have now dead from the virus.

On Sunday (Feb 2) Philippines health officials said a 44-year-old man had died from the newly identified strain of coronavirus, marking the first known death outside of China from the fast-spreading disease.