A resident of block 6 of Richland Gardens, Kowloon Bay leaves the building to a quarantine center on Dec 10, 2020. Residents living in unit D of block 6 of the estate were ordered to evacuate after seven cases of coronavirus infections were confirmed at the building. (PARKER ZHENG/CHINA DAILY)

HONG KONG - Some residents of a coronavirus hit building were ordered to evacuate on Thursday, the same day Hong Kong reported 112 new COVID-19 cases, including 34 infections with origins yet to be known.

Residents who live in unit D of Block 6 of Richland Gardens in Kowloon Bay were ordered to evacuate Thursday morning after seven residents were confirmed to be infected. All of the patients live in unit D.

One more resident living in unit D of the block was tested preliminarily positive on Thursday afternoon.

Further to a compulsory testing notice issued Wednesday night that requires those who had stayed at that block during a specified period to undergo virus testing, residents of units E, Block 4 and units D, Block 18 will also be required to get tested, said Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Centre for Health Protection’s communicable disease branch.

The 112 new cases reported on Thursday involved 102 local infections and 10 imported cases.    

Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Centre for Health Protection’s communicable disease branch, said the new cases involved 102 local infections and 10 imported cases    

“Please don’t gather anymore because in many of our cases it is found that these are related to family gatherings,” Chuang said at a news briefing Thursday afternoon. 

“Family members still like to gather. Three generations of a family may have regular meetings so if a person is infected there would be an outbreak in the family. So please consider stopping your family gatherings,” she added.

She added that the dance cluster had six new infections while the Lohas Park cluster had five new cases, bringing its total to more than 50 infections.

The Yata supermarket in Sha Tin had five preliminarily positive cases and its total confirmed cases numbered 10, Chuang said.

ALSO READ: HK sees 104 new cases on eve of tougher virus curbs

According to the Hospital Authority, there were 1,35 patients being treated in 22 public hospitals as of Thursday, including 43 in critical condition and 59 in serious condition.  

Sevety-five percent of the negative pressure beds have been utilized so far.

The government also announced to list Ukraine as a very high-risk place starting from Dec 17 in view of the COVID-19 pandemic situation.

The government also announced to list Ukraine as a very high-risk place starting from Dec 17 in view of the COVID-19 pandemic situation

Also on Thursday, the Hong Kong government has decided to extend the services at four mobile specimen collection stations due to demand as the city grapples with a fourth wave of coronavirus infections.

In a statement on Thursday morning, the government said that the mobile collection stations in Tai Po, Tsuen Wan, Wong Tai Sin and Kwai Shing will continue to provide free COVID-19 nucleic acid testing services for members of the public until Dec 14 tentatively.

"The testing agency will provide specimen collection services by combined nasal and throat swabs at the mobile specimen collection stations for testing free of charge," a government spokesman was quoted as saying in the statement.

READ MORE: HK reports 100 new virus cases, dine-in to cease at 6 pm

The collection stations -- located at the Basketball Court, Tai Po Community Centre, No 2 Heung Sze Wui Street, Tai Po; Sha Tsui Road Playground, Tsuen Wan; Wong Tai Sin Square; and Kwai Shing Community Hall--will be open from 10 am to 8 pm.  

The mobile specimen collection station set up at the 7-a-side Hard-surfaced Soccer Pitch, Tung Chung North Park will also continue to provide service until December 19 tentatively. 

On the other hand, the mobile specimen collection station set up in Kai Tak Community Hall, Kowloon City ended its operations on December 9 and the station at the open area outside Tai Wo Neighbourhood Community Centre, Tai Wo Estate, Tai Po will also cease operations after December 10.

Persons who are subject to compulsory testing and undergo testing at the mobile specimen collection stations will be deemed to have undergone a test at a community testing center. 

With Xinhua inputs