HEALTH authorities in Hong Kong have stepped up efforts to contain an outbreak of the coronavirus at the city's biggest container terminal where 63 port workers have so far been infected by Covid-19.

Last Sunday, Hong Kong recorded 74 new Covid-19 cases, with 34 of them linked to a cluster at the Kwai Tsing Container Terminals, where 29 workers had previously been infected.

Expanded tests will be carried out on up to 8,000 workers at the terminal, the SCMP reported quoting union members.

Health authorities said that among the 34 new infections, 33 were linked to the Wang Kee Port operations company, and had been identified after distributing testing bottles. Most of the new cases were said to be asymptomatic.

"All of these cases shared the same common areas. [They] eat, relax and shower inside, and live like a family," said Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch of the Centre for Health Protection.

She added that more than 10 companies in the terminal have had staff test positive for the coronavirus so far, but Wang Kee appeared to be the most high-risk company. Health authorities will continue to carry out tests for thousands of workers employed at the terminal.

Hong Kong has now gone two weeks straight with daily tallies of fewer than 100 cases. The total number of coronavirus infections now stands at 4,480, with 69 related deaths, SCMP reported.

The latest infection figures were unveiled as the city prepares to launch mass Covid-19 screenings and considers the resumption of talks to re-establish travel links with two of its neighbours, Macau and Guangdong.