Matthew Cheung, acting chief executive of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), said on Tuesday that in view of the latest COVID-19 situation, the existing social distancing measures due to expire on Thursday will be extended for another seven days.

Cheung told the media that over the past week there are still untraceable new cases reported and the trend of local cases is growing. He urged the public to stay vigilant to prevent the epidemic from rebounding.

The social distancing measures include mandatory mask-wearing in public places and group gatherings of no more than four people. Catering businesses, entertainment premises and sports venues should operate upon meeting the epidemic prevention requirements.

Cheung said within this month, three measures will soon be taken, including the launch of a contact tracing mobile app "Leave Home Safe" for Hong Kong residents to keep track of places they visited, which will enable the local health authorities to track contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases more effectively.

The other two included allowing Hong Kong residents who meet certain conditions to be exempted from the 14-day mandatory quarantine on their return from Guangdong Province or Macao SAR, and implementing the bilateral Air Travel Bubble with Singapore.

(With input from Xinhua)