Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has said she is deeply sorry and anxious about long queues at coronavirus testing centres and isolation facilities after a record number of new cases left authorities scrambling.

Writing on her official Facebook page, Lam said the government was working hard to enhance capacity and that the fast-spreading infections, hitting places like elderly care homes, were the last thing she wanted to see.

“Citizens have to wait for a long time to receive testing and a large number of people who have tested positive have been waiting for a long time for isolation facilities,” she said.

“I am deeply sorry and anxious.”