Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) government should prioritize the task to control its local COVID-19 epidemic, and central government departments and other local governments should fully support and help Hong Kong in anti-epidemic work, Hong Kong media reported.

Xi conveyed his high attention on Hong Kongs recent COVID-19 surge and his kind care for the Hong Kong people to SAR Chief Executive Carrie Lam through Vice Premier Han Zheng, Takungpao reported on Wednesday.

Xi said the SAR government should assume its primary responsibility in the epidemic control work, mobilize all available resources, and take all necessary measures to ensure the safety and health of the Hong Kong people and the overall stability of Hong Kong society, the report said.

Han instructed relevant departments of the central government and South Chinas Guangdong Province, which neighbors Hong Kong, to promptly address Hong Kongs requests for improving Hong Kong's nucleic acid testing capacity, supporting medical supplies such as antigen rapid test kits, building community isolation and treatment facilities, ensuring the supply of necessities for Hong Kong residents, and sending epidemic prevention experts to Hong Kong for guidance.

The central government also decided to set up a work coordination mechanism, led by the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council and the National Health Commission, to strengthen overall planning and coordination of relevant work, according to the report.

The mechanism is composed of relevant departments and experts of the central government, Guangdong provincial government and the SAR government.

The Guangdong government also held a special meeting recently to make specific arrangements for supporting Hong Kong's fight against the epidemic and ensuring supplies to the city, said the report.

Lam said that she would continue to lead the SAR government to make full use of the support of the central government and make an all-out effort to fight the epidemic as the top priority for Hong Kong, reported Wenweipo on Wednesday. 

She said the central government has always been the strongest backing for Hong Kong, and the SAR government will follow the instructions of President Xi to ensure safety of the Hong Kong people. 

She noted that Hong Kong is seeing a rapid development of the epidemic, which went far beyond the capacity of the SAR government to cope with it. The SAR government has submitted a report to the central government asking for assistance in specific areas.

Hong Kong recorded 1,619 new cases on Tuesday, raising the city's confirmed cases to 5,400 since the start of the new wave.

Top mainland epidemiologists said Hong Kong must stick to the dynamic "zero-COVID" strategy and resort to stricter measures to stamp out the coronavirus infection and inject much-needed confidence in the city to keep the virus at bay.