HONG KONG, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong's Center of Health Protection (CHP) reported on Friday 43 new COVID-19 cases confirmed in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in Hong Kong to 845.

May May (C), 61, wears a facemask as a precautionary measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus, as she walks towards her rented storage space after receiving a free meal box given out by Gingko House restaurant from the basement of their Yau Ma Tei branch in Hong Kong on March 27, 2020. (Photo: AFP)

The new cases involve 20 females and 23 males aged between 16 and 60 years old, Head of the CHP's Communicable Disease Branch Chuang Shuk-kwan said at a daily press briefing.

Out of the 43 patients, 34 had travel history during the incubation period or are related to previously confirmed imported cases, including a domestic helper recently arriving from Manila, the Philippines, and a student who was on an overseas exchange.

Among the remaining nine patients, four are close contacts of previously diagnosed patients in clustered outbreaks in bars, two have been to bars, while source of the disease of the other three is not clear yet, Chuang said.

According to Lau Ka-hin, chief manager of Hong Kong's Hospital Authority, 19 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 were discharged from hospital upon recovery in the past 24 hours, and so far 172 confirmed cases and one probable case have been cured and discharged from hospital.

As of Friday noon, 626 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 are being treated in isolation at 14 hospitals across Hong Kong, including eight in critical condition and nine in serious condition, Lau said.