People wearing face masks are seen at a shopping mall in south China's Hong Kong, July 29, 2020. Hong Kong's Center for Health Protection (CHP) reported 118 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the total number of COVID-19 cases in Hong Kong above 3,000. It has been the eighth straight day when the daily additional cases in Hong Kong surpassed 100. (Xinhua/Wu Xiaochu)
HONG KONG, July 29 -- Hong Kong's Center for Health Protection (CHP) reported 118 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the total number of COVID-19 cases in Hong Kong above 3,000.
The newly reported cases, including five imported cases and 113 local infections, brought Hong Kong's total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases to 3,002.
It has been the eighth straight day when the daily additional cases in Hong Kong surpassed 100.
Among the 113 local cases, 67 are related to previously confirmed cases, mostly clusters concerning gatherings of families or friends, while the source of infection of the other 46 cases remained unknown, Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the CHP's Communicable Disease Branch, said at a media briefing on Wednesday afternoon.
Sara Ho, a chief manager of Hong Kong's Hospital Authority, said at the briefing that the occupancy rates of negative pressure rooms and isolation beds in public hospitals have risen to 80 percent and 78.4 percent respectively.
According to the Hospital Authority, after a 76-year-old female patient confirmed with COVID-19 infection passed away on Wednesday morning, the death toll from COVID-19 in Hong Kong has increased to 24.
Since the recurrence of local infections on July 5, Hong Kong has seen a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases. The total number of confirmed cases rose from over 2,000 to over 3,000 in just over a week.
"We are on the verge of a large-scale community outbreak, which may lead to a collapse of our hospital system and cost lives, especially of the elderly," Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Carrie Lam said Tuesday in a video, appealing to the public in the fight against COVID-19.
"The government has put in place the most stringent measures ever in enforcing social distancing, our frontline staff are battling with the surge and the central government is helping us to enhance testing capability and set up a community treatment facility," she said.
