A group of protesters set alight on Sunday the lobby of a newly built residential building in Hong Kong that authorities planned to use as a quarantine facility, as public fears in the financial hub about the coronavirus outbreak intensified.

H/T: The Japan Times

Hong Kong citizens began blocking roads leading to the building in response to the Hong Kong authorities announcing they would turn “Fai Ming Estate, an unoccupied public estate in Fanling, into temporary flats for quarantine and observation of close contact persons without symptoms if needed.”

Government officials acknowledged Sunday the deadly virus' ability to spread is getting stronger, as a firsthand account from a resident of Wuhan emerged over the weekend that appeared to confirm the severity of the outbreak.

#BREAKING: In #HongKong, a group of protesters set fire to the lobby of a newly constructed residential building in Hong Kong on Sunday that authorities were planning to use as a quarantine facility for the #coronavirus epidemicpic.twitter.com/t7QRp58uHJ — ISCResearch (@ISCResearch) January 26, 2020

#Live: #Protesters set fire to a lobby of the building which is set to be use as a quarantine area and medical staff barracks in Hong Kong. #CoronavirusOutbreak #WuhanCoronavirus #nCoV2019 #China pic.twitter.com/ggOXvo2Jy2 — Vernon Yuen (@vernon_yuen) January 26, 2020

Tense scenes in Hong Kong’s Fanling district after the government announced a partly unoccupied public estate will be used as a quarantine area for those infected with the coronavirus. District councillors have been pleading for calm but people are angry pic.twitter.com/80V2UoJTRB — Rachel Blundy (@rachelblundy) January 26, 2020

Hong Kong protesters torch planned Wuhan virus quarantine building https://t.co/YRlryJztPq — DeepClips (@DeepClips) January 26, 2020

Coronavirus quarantine centre is FIRE-BOMBED: Hong Kong rioters torch housing complex as city BANS anyone who has set foot in Hubei in last 14 days from entering

via https://t.co/SoLYFq4fjs https://t.co/w5B6o0gGwl — John B Tawn (@27Tawnyowl) January 26, 2020