A 22-year-old woman who a hospital said stole a mobile phone from a ward where patients were being treated for novel coronavirus infection in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, was detained and placed in an isolation ward herself for medical observation on Tuesday.

According to a statement by Guangzhou No 8 People's Hospital, the woman, surnamed Yang, from Tongren, Guizhou province, sneaked into the ward on the third floor of the hospital's inpatient building using an elevator at 8:41 pm on Monday. She left the ward at 9:16 pm with the mobile phone taken from the area where a 67-year-old male pneumonia patient was being treated, the hospital said.

Surveillance video from the hospital showed Yang wearing a face mask when she arrived in the ward, the statement said.

Medical staff from the hospital, which has been designated for treatment of coronavirus patients in the city, called the police after the male patient reported his phone missing.

The Jiahe Street police substation in Guangzhou's Baiyun district investigated, and Yang was detained by four police officers wearing protective suits. Yang was found on a street about 400 meters from the hospital, at around 5 pm on Tuesday.

She was taken to the hospital later for medical observation, the statement said.