Hong Kong's COVID-19 remains grave as new cases hit record again

Hong Kong's COVID-19 epidemic situation remained worrying as the number of new cases refreshed the daily record for a fourth straight day on Saturday.

A total of 133 cases were reported to the Center for Health Protection over the past 24 hours ending on Friday midnight, including 126 local infections. The daily increase stood at 123, 118 and 113 for the previous three days respectively.

Hong Kong has so far reported over 2,500 infections since the COVID-19 outbreak, a large proportion of which could be attributed to a resurgence since the beginning of July.

As to the local cases on Saturday, transmission chains of 55 patients were still unclear and the other 71 were found related to previously-confirmed infections, said Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the CHP's Communicable Disease Branch, at a media briefing.

Responding to the situation, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government has rolled out a string of social distancing measures, from mandatory mask-wearing at indoor public areas and on transport to closures of entertainment venues.

Stressing that the situation is worrying, HKSAR Chief Executive Carrie Lam said the government is taking swift responses, including improving the virus test capacity and building more anti-disease facilities.

The daily testing capacity of the CHP and the Hospital Authority combined exceeded 10,000, and that of private institutions in Hong Kong reaches over 20,000 samples a day.

At present, 835 COVID-19 patients remain in hospital, including 37 in critical condition, and 18 died from the disease.