UPDATE - China: Coronavirus quarantine hotel collapses

UPDATES NUMBER OF RESCUED

By Fuat Kabakci

BEIJING (AA) - A five-floor hotel used as a quarantine facility for coronavirus patients collapsed Saturday in Quanzhou city, Fujian province in southeastern China.

At least 43 people were rescued from the wreckage of the Xinjia Express Hotel, but rescue efforts continue.

No statement has yet been made on the number of dead or injured.

The South China Morning Post reported the reason for the collapse is yet unknown and 70 people are currently trapped inside the building.

Witnesses of the event said they heard an explosion.

Particularly in the COVID-19 epicenter of Hubei province, the hotel was used to house patients since Feb. 17 due to lack of medical facilities.

The Chinese National Health Commission announced that 3,072 people have died due do COVID-19 so far and that the number of confirmed case exceed 80,000 in China.

First detected in Wuhan, China in December, the disease is now present in over 80 countries worldwide.

The global death toll is nearing 3,500, with around 100,000 confirmed cases, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

It has since spread to over 80 countries and the Who, which declared the outbreak an international health emergency, recently updated its global risk assessment to "very high."