Hong Kong COVID-19 death toll reaches 100 

The death toll of COVID-19 in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has reached 100 after one new fatality was recorded on Saturday morning, the SAR's Center for Health Protection (CHP) said at a daily media briefing on Saturday. 

The deceased, a 67-year-old patient who had suffered chronic disease, passed away early Saturday morning. He was admitted to the hospital on August 11 due to fever and pneumonia before he was diagnosed to have contracted the coronavirus disease COVID-19. 

Thirteen new confirmed cases, including four from overseas were also reported in Hong Kong over the past 24 hours, taking the city's total number of infections to 4,938. Five of the local cases were identified under a mass testing program.

Hong Kong reported its first COVID-19 death on February 14 and had seen no more than 10 deaths before July. 

But the third wave of the epidemic since early July has caused over 80 deaths in two months, with nearly 60 in August alone.

As of Saturday morning, more than 1.6 million samples had been collected under the mass testing program launched on September 1.

(With input from Xinhua News Agency)