Residents look down from a building in the "restricted area" in Jordan, Hong Kong, Jan 23, 2021. (KIN CHEUNG/AP)

HONG KONG - Hong Kong's COVID-19 infections crossed the 10,000 mark on Saturday as the financial hub reported 81 new cases, including 78 locally transmitted ones. 

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Among the 78 new local infections, 21 were residents in the hard-hit Yau Tsim Mong district, Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Centre for Health Protection’s communicable disease branch, said at a briefing in the afternoon. 

Among the newly confirmed local infections, 21 were residents in the hard-hit Yau Tsim Mong district

A worsening outbreak of the coronavirus in the Kowloon area has prompted the Hong Kong government to impose the city's first restricted area in Jordan earlier on the same day. Residents in the area are required to undergo compulsory coronavirus testing by midnight Saturday. 

The source of origin of 35 infections remained unknown, including nine cases in Yau Tsim Mong, Chuang said.

The city's overall infection tally stood at 10,009, with 168 related deaths.

There are more than 70 people who tested preliminarily positive, said Chuang, including a clerk at Tuen Mun Eye Center. 

The woman developed a fever on Friday and returned home from work in the afternoon the same day. The center has disinfected the areas where she worked and will arrange COVID-19 testing for its 120 employees at the center.

Three of the 81 new cases were imported, Chuang said.

Currently, 731 patients are being treated in public hospitals and the community treatment facility at AsiaWorld-Expo, including 38 in critical condition, according to the Hospital Authority.

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