HONG KONG • On Feb 14, Hong Kong actor-singer Pakho Chau found the perfect Valentine's Day "gift" at a supermarket.

After two weeks of fruitless shopping, he managed to buy toilet paper, which has been wiped off from store shelves by Hong Kongers amid the coronavirus outbreak.

A driver was even held up yesterday by three men outside a supermarket in Mong Kok.

They took away toilet paper worth more than HK$1,000 (S$180), reported Agence France-Presse.

According to the HKET news portal, Chau, 35, lauded his neighbours for queueing up without fuss in the store, praising their support for one another in difficult times.

One neighbour, knowing the actor had a daughter with wife Stephanie Chu last December, asked if he wanted the sanitiser that she was intending to pay for.

Chau declined the offer, adding that his home is well-stocked with essential medical items and that he is willing to share these with friends and old folk.