Two women check on the handset in a commercial building in Quarry Bay, Hong Kong, Aug 3, 2020. (PARKER ZHENG/CHINA DAILY)

HONG KONG - Hong Kong's Center for Health Protection (CHP) reported 18 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, bringing the tally in the financial hub to 4,786.

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Two of the new cases were imported and the remaining 16 were locally transmitted, Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the CHP's Communicable Disease Branch, told a media briefing in the afternoon. She added that there are about 10 preliminary positive cases.

Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the CHP's Communicable Disease Branch, called on the public to join the universal testing program and to take this opportunity to learn about their own health condition

Among the local cases, 11 were related to previously confirmed cases and the sources of the other five were unknown.

Three more patients have died from the disease, taking the total number of related death to 87, according to the Hospital Authority. 

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Chuang called on residents to join the Universal Community Testing Program, which was open for registration from Saturday. She urged the public to take this opportunity to learn about their own health condition, and to help break down the chain of transmission.

As of 5:45 pm Saturday, around 220,000 people have signed up for the program.

The program, which aims at identifying asymptomatic COVID-19 patients, will be launched on Sept 1 to provide a one-off free testing service for the public. A total of 141 testing centers have been set up across Hong Kong.

According to Hong Kong's Hospital Authority, 369 patients are still hospitalized, including 23 in critical condition.

With Xinhua inputs