WUHAN, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- China's epidemic-hit Wuhan has set up 132 quarantine sites by Tuesday, providing over 12,500 beds to cope with the surging number of patients confirmed or suspected to be infected with the novel coronavirus.

About 5,425 people are now under centralized quarantine for medical observation in Wuhan, said Hu Lishan, deputy secretary of Communist Party of China Wuhan Municipal Committee, at a press conference on the prevention and control of the novel coronavirus outbreak on Wednesday.

Since Feb. 2, Wuhan has started to unconditionally hospitalize confirmed cases and put suspected cases in centralized quarantine for treatment. Patients with a fever or close contacts of confirmed or suspected cases will also be subject to centralized quarantine for medical observation.

As hospital beds are in short supply, Wuhan is gearing up to use private hospitals, hotels, schools and other places as designated quarantine sites for centralized isolation and observation of patients.

Meanwhile, in Wuhan, over 20,620 people are under home quarantine and observation, said Hu.

A total of 16,678 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection had been reported in Hubei Province by Tuesday.