Lets keep everything in perspective - flu kills thousands every year - how does that distribute between us? As for panic buying, some retailers are making a packet on the backs of the selfish who have the money to buy at any price. That immorality breeds it's own "panic" which only escalates the problem of hysteria. I appreciate there is a concern, but please lets keep all of this in perspective.
Given that we as a group spend so much time in hospitals and given the heightened awareness of infections, I take it no one is or has ever been concerned about the dangers of Clostridium difficile and the threat that can have with anyone who has a procedure or surgery or visits a hospital. The thought has just occurred to me to ask how such a virulent infection has never got out into the general public?