About 70 people were trapped on Saturday (Mar 7) after a hotel being used for coronavirus quarantine collapsed in the Chinese city of Quanzhou in Fujian Province, the city's authority said on its website.

A live video stream posted by the government-backed Beijing News site showed rescue workers in orange overalls clambering over mounds of rubble and carrying people towards ambulances gathered around the site.

The hotel's facade appeared to have crumbled into the ground, exposing the building's steel frame, and a crowd had gathered around the area as the evening wore on.

Beijing News said the Quanzhou Xinjia Hotel had been five storeys high.

"I was at a gas station and heard a loud noise. I looked up and the whole building collapsed. Dust was everywhere, and glass fragments were flying around," a witness said in a video posted on the Miaopai streaming app.

"I was so terrified that my hands and legs were shivering."

Fujian province authorities have sent around 150 rescue workers to the scene, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Representatives from Beijing are also en route to Quanzhou to assist in relief efforts, reported Xinhua news agency.

At least 37 people have so far been rescued from the rubble, the emergency management ministry said.

Officials have yet to confirm whether anyone has died in the accident.

No reason was given for the collapse of the hotel.