A man wears face mask to protect himself from possibly contracting the coronavirus walks on the street in Hong Kong, April 15, 2020. (KIN CHEUNG/AP)

HONG KONG - The cooperation from the public is key to the preliminary receding of COVID-19 outbreak in Hong Kong, health officials said on Friday, as the city reported four new infections that brought the local tally to 1,021. This marked the sixth straight day of single-digit daily increase in the infection. 

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At a regular press briefing on the pandemic, Deputy Secretary for Food and Health Chui Tak-yi said the local outbreak has showed a sign of abating, in view of the dwindling number of new infections.

Despite the outbreak seems receding recently, Ho Pak-leung, a top microbiologist at the University of Hong Kong, said it’s “dangerous” to lift government bans on public gatherings and operations of leisure venues right now

The city has reported no local infection for more than a week. Chui attributed the success to strict virus-control measures, and the concerted efforts of the public.

The latest patients, all returnees from the United Kingdom, include a 20-year-old female student who returned to Hong Kong on March 21. She developed symptoms on April 11 after completing the mandatory two-week quarantine in a hotel.

Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection said the woman is more likely to have caught the disease in the UK, although the authorities had not ruled out the possibility of local transmission.

In the past three days, two other students back from the UK tested positive for the coronavirus after spending 14 days under quarantine.

Other new patients on Friday are a 13-year-old female student, a 21-year-old male student and a 55-year-old woman who had already shown onsets of the disease in the UK on March 17. All of them returned to the city on April 16 via the same flight.

Despite the outbreak seems receding recently, Ho Pak-leung, a top microbiologist at the University of Hong Kong, said it’s “dangerous” to lift government bans on public gatherings and operations of leisure venues right now.

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Speaking in a radio program, he suggested the government further extend the bans and raise public awareness of asymptomatic patients, which account for more than 25 percent of cases in March.

The expert also noted the necessity to require quarantined people to go through another virus test right before they walk free out of isolation.

The Hospital Authority said another 48 coronavirus patients were discharged on Friday, marking the highest daily number of recovered patients. About half of all the confirmed patients have been released from hospitals.

Contact the writer at jefferygu@chinadailyhk.com