70 trapped as Coronavirus quarantine hotel collapses in China

Emergency workers search for victims in the collpased hotel. Photo: UK Guardian

No fewer than 70 people are reportedly trapped after a hotel being used as a coronavirus quarantine facility in the Chinese city of Quanzhou collapsed.

Reports quoted government officials as saying that 32 people have been pulled from the rubble of the Xinjia Hotel.

Videos posted online show emergency workers combing through the building’s wreckage in the southern province of Fujian.

It is not clear what caused the collapse, BBC reports.

It happened at about 19:30 local time (11:30 GMT).

Chinese state media said the hotel was being used as a quarantine facility monitoring people who had had close contact with coronavirus patients.

The hotel reportedly opened in 2018 and had 80 guest rooms.

As of Friday, Fujian province had 296 cases of coronavirus. Meanwhile 10,819 people have been placed under observation because they have been in close contact with someone infected.