Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor (first right) visits the laboratory of KingMed Diagnostics (Hong Kong) Limited in Hong Kong on Dec 25, 2020, as Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee (second right) looks on. This is one of the five private laboratories that help the government provide COVID-19 testing services. Lam visited the five laboratories on Friday to learn more about their operations and extend her holiday greetings to the staff members on duty. (PHOTO/HKSAR GOVERNMENT)

HONG KONG - Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said on Friday that the HKSAR government will further expand the community testing for COVID-19 to identify silent carriers as early as possible and break community transmission chains.

READ MORE: 21-day quarantine for visitors to HK, S. Africa on banned list

The community testing centers and mobile stations have provided 500,000 tests since mid-November and identified over 600 confirmed cases

Lam made the remarks while visiting five private laboratories that assist the HKSAR government in carrying out the testing.

According to the HKSAR government, the five labs belonged to five companies that are currently operating 19 community testing centers across Hong Kong, with a combined capacity of over 20,000 tests a day.

At the request of the HKSAR government, the companies also arrange mobile stations in areas with more confirmed cases to provide free testing to local residents or those who feel they are at high risk of infection.

The community testing centers and mobile stations have provided 500,000 tests since mid-November and identified over 600 confirmed cases.

After months of concerted efforts of the HKSAR government and the testing companies, the maximum testing capability of public and private laboratories has been significantly increased to about 100,000 per day.  

Hong Kong's Center for Health Protection (CHP) reported 57 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Friday, taking its total tally to 8,481.

ALSO READ: HK secures 22.5m doses of vaccines, enough for all citizens

The new cases included 55 local infections, 25 of which untraceable, according to a CHP press briefing. The total number of related deaths stood at 136.