Residents wait in line to take COVID-19 tests outside a testing center in Hong Kong, Sept 1, 2020. (KIN CHEUNG / AP)

HONG KONG - Hong Kong’s Centre for Health Protection (CHP) reported eight new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, the lowest single-day increase since early July, as nearly 800,000 residents signed up for the Universal Community Testing Programme (UCTP).

Half of the new cases were linked to previous infections while the remaining four cases were of unknown origin

All the eight cases were local infections and four of them were of unknown origin.The overall tally reached 4,830, a CHP official said in a media briefing on Wednesday afternoon.

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The cases with unknown origin included two men, aged 70 and 87, who were living on the same floor at Metropark Hotel Mongkok. The older man tested positive for the coronavirus after he died at a hospital.

The two other untraceable cases involved a 61-year-old maintenance worker and a 45-year-old construction site worker.

Health officials also said that two more residents of Hong Chi Lei Muk Shue Hostel, a center for people with intellectual disabilities, were confirmed infected. So far, six workers and 14 residents of the center had contracted the virus.

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On Wednesday morning, a 66-year-old male patient at the Yan Chai Hospital and a 79-year-old man at the United Christian Hospital passed away, pushing the city’s coronavirus-related death toll to 92.

Starting Friday, social distancing rules will be relaxed further with customers being allowed to eat at restaurants from 5 am to 10 pm, or one hour more than what was allowed under previous guidelines. Only two people can sit per table, the Hong Kong government said.

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Gyms, indoor sports venues and massage parlors can reopen with limited capacity and strict infection control measures, it added.

As of 8 pm Wednesday, a total of about 798,000 people had signed up for the UCTP, the government said.

On the second day of the free virus tests, a total of about 152,000 people went to community testing centers across the city to have their specimens taken, bringing the number of people tested to around 278,000. About 49,000 specimens collected under the program had been tested, it added.

Chief Secretary for Administration Matthew Cheung Kin-chung (second right) receives a briefing on the testing workflow during a visit to the Queen Elizabeth Stadium community testing center in Wan Chai on September 2, 2020. Looking on is Director of General Grades of the Civil Service Bureau Hermes Chan (fourth right). (PHOTO / HKSAR GOVT)

Specimens that test positive for COVID-19 will be referred to the Department of Health’s Public Health Laboratory Services Branch for confirmatory tests. Confirmed cases will be followed up and announced by the CHP.

Chief Secretary for Administration Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, accompanied by the Director of General Grades of the Civil Service Bureau Hermes Chan, visited the community testing centre at Queen Elizabeth Stadium on Wednesday.

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Cheung said he was pleased to know that all community testing centers have been operating smoothly as a whole since the launch of the program.

“I appeal to members of the public to actively participate in the UCTP and sign up for the tests to protect oneself and others. The more people that participate in the programme, the higher the chances of identifying asymptomatic COVID-19 patients in the community for early isolation and early treatment,” Cheung said.

“It will help break the invisible transmission chain in the community and contain the spread of the third wave of the epidemic so that social and economic activities can resume gradually and people's daily lives can resume as normal,” he added.

So far, there have been 68 cases of suspected fraudulent use of personal data for online booking under the testing program. These cases were referred to the police, the government said.