Hunkering down in cramped apartments and raiding supermarket shelves for food and masks, Hong Kongers are fretting about the future as fear of the new coronavirus sweeps one of the world’s most densely populated cities.

Many in the Asian financial hub of seven million — where the 2002-03 SARS outbreak killed 299 people — are weighing up their options against an unseen danger.

“I feel like I’m in a washing machine with other pregnant women trying to figure out what to do,” says Natalie Belbin, 35, who is expecting her first child and frantically considering her choices.

Her baby is due in early April, a period some experts warn could be the peak of the outbreak.

Hong Kong’s already under-pressure public hospitals have asked partners and family not to attend births to reduce pressure on wards.