Hong Kong takes action on coronavirus as protesters torch quarantine building

The incident occurred in a housing estate near the border with mainland China

An entrance to a housing block of the Fai Ming Estate on fire as residents protested against plans for the estate to be used as a quarantine camp for patients and frontline medical staff of a coronavirus outbreak. AFP

First aid volunteers work to extinguish a fire set by local residents after the Hong Kong government announced it would requisition the unoccupied housing project to house quarantined patients of the new viral coronavirus illness. AP

Residents took the streets on Sunday night to oppose the plan to house quarantined patients or medical workers in their neighbourhood, which is far from Hong Kong's busy business centres. AP

Riot police wear protective masks while standing guard on Nathan Street in the Mong Kok district of Hong Kong, China. A protest against a Hong Kong government plan to use a new and unoccupied public housing estate as a possible coronavirus quarantine facility turned violent as demonstrators set fires and destroyed some property. Bloomberg

People react after riot police deploy tear gas at a Lunar New Year temporary night market on Portland Street during a protest in the Mong Kok district of Hong Kong, China. Bloomberg

People react in a cinema after riot police deploy tear gas on Portland Street during a protest in the Mong Kok district of Hong Kong, China. Bloomberg

Riot police deploy tear gas at a Lunar New Year temporary night market on Portland Street in the Mong Kok district of Hong Kong, China. Bloomberg

Riot police stand guard on Portland Street in the Mong Kok district of Hong Kong, China. Bloomberg

Men believed to be police officers dressed as protesters detain a demonstrator at a Lunar New Year temporary night market on Portland Street during a protest in the Mong Kok district of Hong Kong, China. Bloomberg

Riot police wear protective masks while standing guard on Nathan Street in the Mong Kok district of Hong Kong, China. Bloomberg

First aid volunteers try to protect a man who was fighting with a protester during a protest in Mong Kok, Hong Kong. AP Photo

Riot police stand guard during a protest in Mong Kok, Hong Kong. AP Photo

Medical team carry a man to an ambulance during a protest in Mong Kok, Hong Kong. AP Photo

A riot police officers points a canister of pepper spray at a Lunar New Year temporary night market on Portland Street during a protest in the Mong Kok district of Hong Kong, China. Bloomberg

Hong Kong's government said on Sunday it will ban residents of China's Hubei province, where the new coronavirus outbreak was first reported, or people who have visited Hubei in the past 14 days from entering the city from Monday.

The rule does not apply to Hong Kong residents, it added in a statement, without giving an end date to the ban.

The announcement came as a group of protesters set alight the lobby of a newly-built residential building in Hong Kong that authorities planned to use as a quarantine facility.

The Hong Kong government has since decided to not move forward with plans to use residential buildings for quarantining people who have contracted the new coronavirus.

On Sunday, a Reuters witness saw several masked protesters, clad in black, rush into the public housing block in Hong Kong's Fanling district near to the border with China, and set alight a Molotov cocktail before running out. Black smoke could be seen pouring out of the building to the sound of fire alarms. Windows were smashed.

Earlier in the afternoon, hundreds of regular Hong Kong citizens had blocked roads leading to the building with bricks and other debris, as anger grew towards government plans to convert the building into a quarantine zone as the number of confirmed cases in the city climbed to six on Sunday.

"We are dissatisfied with the government selecting this housing estate as a (quarantine) separation village as it's very close to a residential area and a primary school," said a 28-year-old resident surnamed Tsang.

Public calls have also grown for the Hong Kong government to block the financial hub's border with mainland China to further minimise the risk of infection.

Earlier on Sunday, Hong Kong authorities said they would convert "Fai Ming Estate, an unoccupied public estate in Fanling, into temporary flats for quarantine and observation of close contact persons without symptoms if needed."

Health authorities in the afternoon said 107 people were now under quarantine, and there were 77 suspected cases.

The ability of the new coronavirus to spread is strengthening and infections could continue to rise, China's National Health Commission said on Sunday, with nearly 2,000 people in China infected and 56 killed by the disease.

A handful of cases have been reported outside China, including in Thailand, Australia, the United States and France, with health authorities around the world racing to prevent a pandemic.