HONG KONG, Jan. 30 -- The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government is working with mainland authorities for a supply of more than 24 million face masks in an effort to ease local shortage of protective gear in the fight against spread of the novel coronavirus.

Chief Secretary for Administration Matthew Cheung told a press conference Thursday that the government is working to ensure that the batches of face masks for the retail market will be transported to Hong Kong as soon as possible.

Nearly 8 million mainland-produced face masks have been transported to Hong Kong market since the beginning of the month, Cheung said, adding that the government has also purchased 5 million masks globally.

There was a shortfall in medical face masks in Hong Kong, where long queues were spotted in front of pharmacies and health care stores.

The Center for Health Protection of the Department of Health said there have been 10 cases confirmed for novel coronavirus infection, with one in critical condition. During the past 24 hours ending Thursday noon, 95 new suspected cases were reported.