Residents shop at a supermarket in Hong Kong on Aug 11, 2020. (LO PING FAI/XINHUA)

HONG KONG - Hong Kong reported 48 new coronavirus cases on Friday as authorities advised residents in the global financial hub to remain vigilant in curbing the further spread of the virus, which has seen a resurgence in the city since early July.

Out of the 48 cases, 46 were locally transmitted. The latest cases brought the city’s infection tally to 4,360, 67 of whom have died.

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Friday’s figure was down from Thursday’s 69 cases.

The Executive Council will end its summer recess early and resume regular meetings from Tuesday to handle anti-epidemic work and other matters

Among the local cases, 37 are related to previously confirmed cases, mostly clusters concerning gatherings of families, Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Center for Health Protection's Communicable Disease Branch, told a media briefing.

The route of transmission of nine local cases were unknown and there are about 30 preliminary positive cases, Chuang added.

Linda Yu, a chief manager of Hong Kong's Hospital Authority, said at the briefing that as of 9 am local time Friday, 3,391 patients with the confirmed infection have been discharged from hospitals after recovery, while 829 patients are hospitalized, including 30 in critical condition and 48 in serious condition.

Yu added that the current occupancy rates of negative pressure rooms and isolation beds in public hospitals are 67.6 percent and 58.7 percent respectively.  

The Chief Executive's Office announced on Friday that the Executive Council will end its summer recess early and resume regular meetings from Tuesday to handle anti-epidemic work and other matters.

Meanwhile, the Centre for Food Safety said it has enhanced sampling of frozen chicken meat from Brazil at import and wholesale levels for COVID-19 testing as a precautionary measure.

The Centre for Food Safety said it has enhanced sampling of frozen chicken meat from Brazil at import and wholesale levels for COVID-19 testing as a precautionary measure

The move came after Shenzhen authorities said a surface sample of chicken wings imported from Brazil tested positive for novel coronavirus.

The center has also suspended the license application for poultry meat import into Hong Kong from the plant concerned.

It added preliminary investigations found that the concerned batch of chicken wings was not on sale in Hong Kong.

The center pointed out that there is no evidence indicating that humans can be infected by the novel coronavirus via food.

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The World Health Organization and global food safety assessment authorities also consider that it is unlikely that the virus can be transmitted to humans via food.

The center reminded members of the public to consume thoroughly washed and cooked food.

With inputs from Agencies