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HONG KONG, July 29-- Hong Kong is getting stressed out in the face of a resurgence of epidemic as its total number of COVID-19 cases exceeded 3,000 on Wednesday. The Center for Health Protection (CHP) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government reported 118 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Hong Kong to 3,002. It has been the eighth straight day when the daily additional cases in Hong Kong surpassed 100. The newly reported cases included five imported cases and 113 local infections, Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the CHP's Communicable Disease Branch, said at a media briefing on Wednesday afternoon. Among the local cases, 67 are related to previously confirmed cases, mostly clusters concerning gatherings of families or friends, while the source of infection of the other 46 cases remained unknown. According to Hong Kong's Hospital Authority, after a 76-year-old female patient confirmed with COVID-19 infection passed away on Wednesday morning, the death toll from COVID-19 in Hong Kong has increased to 24. "We are on the verge of a large-scale community outbreak, which may lead to a collapse of our hospital system and cost lives, especially of the elderly," HKSAR Chief Executive Carrie Lam said in a video released on Tuesday night to appeal to the public to fight COVID-19 together. "The government has put in place the most stringent measures ever in enforcing social distancing, our frontline staff are battling with the surge and the central government is helping us to enhance testing capability and set up a community treatment facility," she said. | 
