HONG KONG, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) - The total number of novel coronavirus infection cases confirmed in Hong Kong has risen to eight, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government's Department of Health (DH) announced early Monday.

People wear masks in Hong Kong on January 26, 2020, as a preventative measure following a coronavirus outbreak which began in the Chinese city of Wuhan. (Photo: AFP)

The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of DH has been investigating three additional imported cases of the novel coronavirus infection since Sunday.

The CHP said at a press conference on Sunday that the first case involves a 47-year-old male with good past health condition who worked in Wuhan, Hubei province, and returned to Hong Kong by train on Thursday.

The second case involves a 68-year-old woman, also with good past health condition, who lives in Shenzhen. She traveled from Shenzhen to Hong Kong's Lo Wu Control Point on Saturday with fever and was intercepted by staff of DH's Port Health Division at the control point. She was immediately taken to hospital for isolation and treatment.

According to the patient, she had visited family members in Wuhan during the incubation period but had neither been exposed to wild animals nor visited any wet markets there.

The third case involves a 64-year-old Wuhan resident whose wife has been confirmed as Hong Kong's third imported case of the novel coronavirus infection. He traveled with his wife to Hong Kong by train on Jan. 19 to visit their daughter and son-in-law, and was put into quarantine on Friday as a close contact of his wife. The patient, with underlying illness, developed fever on Saturday night and was transferred to hospital for isolation and treatment.

The respiratory samples of the three patients were tested positive for the novel coronavirus and all of them were in stable condition.

The CHP is continuing its epidemiological investigations and relevant contact tracing of the eight confirmed imported cases in Hong Kong. As of 8:00 p.m. local time on Sunday, 31 persons with "close contact" and 73 with "other contact" with the confirmed cases have been found. Eight of them had developed relevant symptoms and were taken to the hospital for isolation, among whom six were discharged later after their laboratory results were confirmed negative for the novel coronavirus.

As of noon on Sunday, the CHP has received reports of a total of 382 cases fulfilling the reporting criteria, including the eight confirmed cases. Out of the reported cases, 219 have been ruled out as novel coronavirus infection, while 155 cases remained hospitalized for investigation.