People taking a break in a park in Tseung Kwan O. (CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY)

HONG KONG - Th Hong Kong Special Administrative Region reported five new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Sunday as the government continued with the construction of more quarantine facilities.

In a media briefing on Sunday afternoon, Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) Communicable Disease Branch, said the new cases included three imported cases that involved two persons who arrived from Nepal and a cabin crew member from Russia. The total number of confirmed cases stood at 5,113.

The two local cases included a patient who stayed in a quarantine center and was linked to a previous infection and a 27-year-old housewife who was apparently infected by a new friend from Thailand

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The two local cases included a patient who stayed in a quarantine center and was linked to a previous infection and a 27-year-old housewife who was apparently infected by her friend from Thailand.

“What we’re concerned about on the 28th and 26th of September, during the incubation period, she was with someone who just arrived from Thailand. It’s a new acquaintance,” Chuang said.

“They met. They walked around Harbour City. This friend was supposed to have gone back Thailand and a confirmed cases. So, we’ve contacted health authorities in Thailand to follow up,” she added.

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 According to the Hospital Authority, there were 115 patients being treated in 17 hospitals as of Sunday. Ten of these patients were in critical condition while eight were in serious condition. The number of deaths caused by COVID-19 in Hong Kong stands at 105.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s third and fourth phases of quarantine camps for COVID-19 at Penny’s Bay are expected to provide around 2,000 more quarantine units, and will be completed by the end of this year, Secretary for Development Michael Wong Wai-lun revealed in his blog on Sunday.

Upon completion of all four phases, the city will hold more than 4,000 quarantine units, Wong said.

Some 900 quarantine units have come into operation at the site since the second phase was completed in mid-September.

Also writing in his blog, Chief Secretary for Administration Matthew Cheung Kin-chung said on Sunday that the HKSAR government was discussing with the mainland and with the Macao Special Administrative Region whether to exempt from compulsory quarantine those who tested negative in the nucleic acid test for COVID-19.

This arrangement, however, will only be implemented when the epidemic stabilizes in Hong Kong, Cheung said, adding that the HKSAR government will continue to take preventive and control measures with caution.

Cheung also said that the HKSAR government was in the final stage of its study on whether to allow Hong Kong residents from the mainland who possess required certifications to be exempted from compulsory quarantine.

With inputs from Xinhua