HONG KONG, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong's Center for Health Protection (CHP) reported 13 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, taking the total confirmed cases to 5,009.
The newly-reported cases include nine imported cases and four local infections, Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the CHP's Communicable Disease Branch, told a media briefing on Saturday afternoon, adding that there were more than 10 preliminary positive cases, with most of them imported ones.
Among the local cases, one was related to previously confirmed cases, and the infection sources of the other three remained unknown. One of the cases of unknown origin involved a female working for the University of Hong Kong as a laboratory research assistant, who had to deal with samples of inactivated and non-infectious COVID-19 virus to do genetic sequencing.
Chuang said it was still unknown where the research assistant contracted the disease and the university has carried out environmental sampling in areas related for further investigation.
According to Hong Kong's Hospital Authority, 158 patients are still hospitalized, including 13 in critical condition.
The number of deaths related to COVID-19 stands at 103. Enditem
