Shoppers in Bangkok are quickly emptying supermarket shelves of long-lasting items like instant noodles, rice, tissue paper, tinned fish and drinking water as fears increase over the coronavirus epidemic.

Tops Supermarket, Tesco Lotus, The Mall Group and Big C Supercenter acknowledged that these items have been snapped up quickly since the weekend.

They agree that fear of the deadly virus is the primary cause for the shopping spree.

"We have never seen these kinds of purchases," said Chairat Petchdakul from The Mall Group Co.

"At first we thought it stemmed from the payday, but the majority of the goods the shoppers bought were long-lasting items like instant noodles, drinking water and tinned fish," he said. "We then assumed that the demand was from growing concerns about the coronavirus epidemic. However, we will closely watch shoppers' behaviour again during these weekdays."

Mr Chairat gave assurances that supplies of the mentioned products are adequate, though with perhaps a slight delay in delivery from producers.

Mintita Thowkam, 33, a company employee, said she's begun hoarding goods because she is afraid of the coronavirus and is not confident in the government's measures to control the spread.

"I don't know whether the government's agencies have efficient measures to handle big groups of Thai workers who are coming from South Korea," she said. "If the measures are not serious enough, the outcome will be terrible."

Thailand's embassy in Seoul has been informed by the South Korean Immigration Office that more than 5,000 Thais reported to the office from December last year to March 1, according to the Foreign Ministry.

"I'm quite worried about this, so I came to Tesco Lotus hypermarket for products to stock up for 1-2 months," Ms Mintita said, adding that she also found some products missing from shelves on Tuesday, including instant noodles.

A manager at Thai President Foods Plc, the maker of Mama instant noodles, said supplies are assured because total production capacity for all instant noodle brands, excluding imported products, is about 10 million packets a day.