BEIJING, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland has set up a batch of supportive teams that will head for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) to carry out nucleic acid tests for COVID-19.

Given the grave epidemic prevention and control situation in Hong Kong, the National Health Commission (NHC) assembled the teams at the request of the HKSAR government and under the deployment and command of the central government.

Around 60 professionals were selected by the health commission of south China's Guangdong Province from over 20 public hospitals, and seven of them will leave for Hong Kong on Sunday to help with laboratory work, according to the NHC on Saturday.

They will be the first batch of mainland professionals dispatched by the central government to support Hong Kong's fight against COVID-19. The NHC will continue to assemble mainland medical resources and send more support any time based on the requirements of the HKSAR in terms of battling the epidemic, it said.

A supportive team on makeshift hospitals consisting of six experts has also been assembled by the NHC.

All from Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, the experts boast experience and will provide technical support in transforming Hong Kong's AsiaWorld-Expo into a makeshift hospital for COVID-19 patients, the NHC said.