SHANGHAI: Ten people have died and 23 remain trapped after the collapse of a hotel that was being used to quarantine people under observation for the coronavirus in the Chinese city of Quanzhou, authorities said on Sunday.

More than 70 people were believed to have been initially trapped in the seven storey building, which collapsed on Saturday evening.

As of 16:00 Beijing time on Sunday, authorities had retrieved 48 individuals from the site of the collapse, with 38 of them sent to hospitals, the Ministry of Emer­gency Management said.

Pictures from the site showed rescue workers clad in hard hats, goggles and face masks carrying injured people away to waiting medical staff in white overalls and surgical masks. A rescue force of over 1,000 people, including firefighters, police forces, and other emergency responders, arri­v­ed at the site on Saturday night, authorities told a media conference organised by the Quanzhou government on Sunday.

Of the 71 people inside the hotel at the time of the collapse, 58 had been under quarantine, they added.

According to state media outlet Xinhua, the owner of the building, a man surnamed Yang, has been summoned by police. The building’s first floor had been under renovation at the time of the collapse, the news agency said.

News of the collapse comes as the spread of COVID-19 continues to slow in China.

According to data from China’s National Health Com­m­ission (NHC), cases fell by roughly one half on Saturday from the day prior.

The agency confirmed 44 new cases of COVID-19 on March 7, a decline from 99 the previous day.

Chinese cities are gradually relaxing qua­rantine mea­­s­­ures put in place over a mo­nth ago, while autho­rities keep a close watch on the vir­us’ spread overseas.

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2020