70 trapped after hotel used for coronavirus quarantine collapses in China

Rescue operations are on

china-building-collap A man is assisted out from the rubble of a collapsed hotel building in Quanzhou city in southeast China's Fujian province | AP

Seventy people were reported trapped trapped after a five-storey hotel which is being used for coronavirus quarantine collapsed in the port city of Quanzhou in southeast China on Saturday.

According to a Reuters report, a live video stream posted by the government-backed Beijing News site showed rescue workers clambering over mounds of rubble and carrying people towards ambulances

gathered around the site. As many as 34 people were rescued in the operation.

The accident happened around 7.30 pm local time, the report said. Rescue efforts were underway. No reasons has been given for the collapse.

Meanwhile, the number of cases from the new coronavirus topped 100,000 worldwide as official data Saturday showed a significant hit to Chinese exports after the deadly outbreak brought much of the country to a halt.

The World Health Organisation called the spread of the virus "deeply concerning" as a wave of countries reported their first cases of the disease—which has now killed more than 3,500 people and infected more than 100,000 across 94 nations and territories.

(With agency reports)

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