People wearing face masks cross a traffic junction in downtown Hong Kong, April 6, 2020. (VINCENT YU / AP)

HONG KONG - With 24 new coronavirus cases recorded on Monday, the total number of Hong Kong’s confirmed COVID-19 patients increased to 914, health authorities said.

Among the latest patients identified on Monday, 18 reported recent travel history, including five people returning from Peru on Sunday.

Among the latest patients identified on Monday, 18 reported recent travel history, including five people returning from Peru on Sunday

Those five patients tested positive for the virus after being sent to the test center at AsiaWorld-Expo upon their arrival from Peru. They were among the 65 Hong Kong residents stranded in locked-down Peru who were brought back on government arranged flights. 

Three out of the five were from the same tour group of 21 people. The other 18 have been sent to government’s quarantine facilities, the Centre for Health Protection said. Other returnees from Peru were not considered as close contacts and were allowed to return home for the mandatory 14-day quarantine.

READ MORE: Dootstep specimen pick-up option for overseas arrivals

A possible local transmission chain could be traced to a 48-year-old supermarket salesman whose wife was earlier confirmed as infected. He went to a karaoke lounge in Causeway Bay with at least five of his colleagues. He also reported to work during the incubation period.

Other local cases involved two bar workers and three close contacts of previously confirmed patients related to bars, including the sons, one 3-year-old and the other 8-year-old, of a woman who worked at All Night Long, a bar in Tsim Sha Tsui linked to most local cases confirmed on Monday.

READ MORE: HK sees 28 new cases; 122 police officers to be quarantined