People wearing face masks ride an escalator in a shopping mall in Central, Hong Kong, July 22, 2020. (CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY)

HONG KONG - Hong Kong’s worst coronavirus outbreak is showing signs of coming under control as the city reported the lowest number of new local infections since its resurgence began over a month ago.

The Asian financial hub reported 33 new cases on Tuesday, of which 32 locally transmitted, a marked drop from the high double-digit tallies of the past week. New infections have sustained a decline since the peak of 145 local cases on July 30 and have stayed below a hundred daily since Aug 3.

The fall in case numbers reflects that tightened social distancing rules, which now ban public gatherings of more of two people and mandate masks in all public places, are working to slow the virus’ spread

The drop is a reprieve for Hong Kong after a sudden flareup strained its health-care infrastructure and testing capacity, and confined its residents largely to their homes. While the city’s total outbreak of around 4,000 is still modest compared to many regions, the resurgence arrived after months of near-zero community transmission and has affected older patients than before, causing the death toll to spike.

READ MORE: Nursing home outbreaks lift death rates in HK, Australia

The disease claimed four more patients aged between 75 and 87, taking the toll to 59.

Almost 90 percent of COVID-19 deaths in Hong Kong happened in the past month as the outbreak entered nursing and elderly care homes. 

The fall in case numbers reflects that tightened social distancing rules, which now ban public gatherings of more of two people and mandate masks in all public places, are working to slow the virus’ spread. The current measures, which also forbid dining in at restaurants between 6 pm and 5 am, have been extended to Aug 18.

Among the new local cases reported on Tuesday, 17 are related to previously confirmed cases, mostly clusters concerning gatherings of families, Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Centre for Health Protection's Communicable Disease Branch, told a media briefing.

When asked if the epidemic has peaked, Chuang said, although the number of new cases has decreased from previous days, there are still more than 50 preliminary positive cases and the daily number may fluctuate.

ALSO READ: HK reports 69 new virus cases as local transmissions stay high

She also noted that the route of transmission of 15 local cases reported Tuesday were unknown, indicating there was silent transmission in the community.

Sara Ho, a chief manager of Hong Kong's Hospital Authority, said at the briefing that as of 9 am local time Tuesday, 3,052 patients with confirmed infection have been discharged from hospitals after recovery, while 988 patients are hospitalized, including 32 in critical condition and 61 in serious condition.

Ho added that the current occupancy rates of negative pressure rooms and isolation beds in public hospitals are 74 percent and 65 percent respectively.  

The total number of infections in the city stood at 4,181.

With inputs from Agencies