South Africans holed up in tiny flats in the global epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak are clamouring for their government to bring them home.

As concerns mount following the identification of SA's first two novel coronavirus-infected patients this week, the 184 citizens stranded in Wuhan, China, remain in forced confinement.

Plans to bring them home were thrown into disarray when the Black Mountain Hotel in Thaba Nchu, Free State, which was to be their 21-day quarantine site, cancelled its agreement with the government over "the abuse of staff".

This has left officials scrambling to find another site.

In a statement on Thursday, the Government Communication and Information System said it had "received disturbing reports of some of the potential service providers being intimidated" and that "the intimidation makes it very difficult for the government to speedily conclude preparations".