This Aug 3, 2020 photo shows residents wearing face masks walking in Quarry Bay, Hong Kong. (PARKER ZHENG / CHINA DAILY)

HONG KONG - Hong Kong's Education Secretary Kevin Yeung Yun-hung ruled out on Monday face-to-face classes in the new academic year scheduled to begin in the next month or two. 

Yeung announced the government's decision to buttress social-distancing measures as Hong Kong reported two more deaths from a COVID-19 infection on Monday morning, taking the number of fatalities in the city to 37. Also on Monday, the city posted 80 confirmed cases, all local, ending a 12-day run of triple-digit infections. Twenty-four of the cases remained untraceable, authorities said. 

Hong Kong reported two deaths on Monday, taking the number of fatalities to 37. The city also posted 80 confirmed cases, ending a 12-day run of triple-digit infections

Tightened anti-pandemic measures in Hong Kong, including no gatherings of over two people in public and no dine-in services at restaurants in the evenings, will be extended until Aug 11, according to a government statement issued Monday evening.

Yeung said all classes and extracurricular activities will be conducted online or through distance learning once the new school year starts and kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, international schools, special-needs schools as well as tuition centres needed to comply.

But schools are required to open their doors to accommodate students whose parents have to go work. Yeung said subsidies will be provided for students from low-income families to buy computer tablets for e-learning.

ALSO READ: HK people urged to stay home, no classes before Aug 17

Early Monday, a spokesperson for Tuen Mun Hospital announced that an 83-year-old male patient being treated for COVID-19 passed away at 6.34 am. The patient had a chronic disease and had been admitted on July 9. 

Hours later, the spokesperson for Queen Elizabeth Hospital announced that an 84-year-old woman with a chronic disease died at 5.28 am. She was admitted on July 10.

The latest fatalities were reported a day after seven virus testing professionals from the Chinese mainland arrived in Hong Kong on Sunday afternoon as part of the first batch of mainland support teams deployed to help contain a worsening spread of COVID-19 in Hong Kong.

READ MORE: Mainland medics banking on experience to help HK fight virus

The medical professionals are members of a 60-strong nucleic acid testing team recently set up at the request of the HKSAR government for assistance in the battle against the pandemic. 

According to a press release issued by the HKSAR government, the team, coordinated by the central government and formed by the National Health Commission, will start work Monday. 

READ MORE: HK has motherland's resolute backing to overcome epidemic

Greeting the team on Sunday, two HKSAR government officials, Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Tsang Kwok-wai and Secretary for Food and Health Chan Siu-chee, expressed gratitude for the central government's assistance.

In the press release, the HKSAR government dismissed online rumors claiming the government would transport the DNA data of people tested for COVID-19 to the mainland. The HKSAR government emphasized that all anti-epidemic work done by it completely complied with legal requirements.