'Panic buyers' clear out face mask supplies amid Coronavirus outbreak

A Tauranga medical supplies company is bearing the brunt of people "panic buying" face masks as the global fight against the spread of Coronavirus continues.

The Government announced on Sunday all foreign travellers that were from or had transited through China were barred from entering New Zealand for up to two weeks.

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To date, no cases of Coronavirus had been confirmed in New Zealand.

Mount Maunganui business Capes Medical managing director Peter Capes said N95 masks had sold out and staff had worked overtime to keep up to pace.

"It's unbelievable ... we've never seen anything so crazy," he said.

'We've been caught short by the sheer volume of purchases. No one could foresee this."

The N95 mask claims to filter 95 per cent of airborne particles.

Capes said the majority of the masks had been sold to Chinese-New Zealanders wanting to send them back to family in China.

Demand for N95 masks was usually low but in the last week, about 30 years worth of stock had gone out the doors.

Another medical supplier Capes knew of estimated about two years of its stock had been sold in two days.

Capes said one buyer wanted to buy $2 million of masks, gowns and sanitiser but the business simply did not have the stock to meet the order.

Capes, who had worked through swine and bird flu during more than 20 years in the business, said he had never seen such high demand.

"People have seen what it [a virus] can do."

Meanwhile, Tourism Bay of Plenty head of destination marketing, Kath Low, said it appeared the local tourism economy had escaped unscathed so far but the impact of the travel ban would be closely monitored.

Low said China was not a particularly significant market for the coastal Bay of Plenty. This year, Chinese New Year was in late January before the travel ban so the peak in visitation had likely occurred prior to the ban. But it was still unknown what the wider impacts could be.

"For example, we don't know how many international visitors travel via China to New Zealand."

The Insurance Council of New Zealand cautioned people that broad exclusions normally apply for pandemics and epidemics and urged people to clarify what cover they had for any travel insurance.

The Bay of Plenty District Health Board have been approached for comment.

According to Toi Te Ora's website, people who have travelled to China in the last 14 days and have a fever, cough, or cold or flu-like symptoms are urged to stay at home and call a doctor, or Healthline on freephone 0800 611 116, for advice.