23 hurt as Qatar coronavirus tent clinics collapse in storm

Twenty-three staff at a hospital in Qatar were injured when tents being used to boost capacity in response to coronavirus collapsed in a fierce storm, local media reported Friday.

Winds of up to 72 kilometres per hour (45 miles per hour) caused two expansion tents at Hazm Mebaireek General Hospital in Qatar's Industrial Area to collapse on Thursday, the Gulf Times reported.

No patients were hurt and most injuries to staff were minor, the daily added, citing the health ministry.

The Industrial Area, a gritty, densely-populated district mostly home to migrant labourers, has been the epicentre of Qatar's outbreak. 

Read also: Coronavirus: Travel restrictions, border shutdowns across the Middle East

Tens of thousands of residents were quarantined in the area after cases of the novel coronavirus were confirmed among the community in mid-March.

Gas-rich Qatar -- home to hundreds of thousands of foreign labourers working on projects linked to the 2022 World Cup -- has reported 12 deaths and 14,096 cases of the COVID-19 respiratory disease. 

The hospital's executive director Hussein Ishaq said the incident was being treated "very seriously" and that an investigation had been launched.

"I want to express my appreciation to all the (hospital) staff who heroically helped ensure that no patients were injured and were safely transferred to other hospitals to continue receiving care," he said, quoted in the Gulf Times.