Hong Kong, Sep 15 (IANS): Hong Kong has completed its mass Covid-19 screening program launched two weeks ago, with the participation of some 1.78 million people.

Most of the specimens collected under the Universal Community Testing Program, nearly 1.72 million, had been tested by 8 p.m. on Monday, the city government said in a statement.

The program was aimed at identifying asymptomatic patients and cutting invisible transmission chains as Hong Kong faced the third wave of the outbreak starting early July, reports Xinhua news agency.

A government spokesman said on Monday that the successful and smooth operation of the program hinged on the full support of the central government, with a nucleic acid test support team established to enhance the testing capacity of Hong Kong in a short period of time.

"More than 570 members of the support team have completed their mission by working zealously days and nights at the temporary air-inflated laboratories," the spokesman said.

Hong Kong reported 14 new cases on Monday, which took the overall tally to 4,971, while the death toll stood at 101.