HONG KONG - Hong Kong recorded a total of 121 people tested positive for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in the forth quarter of 2011, and 26 of them were confirmed as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), the city's official said on Tuesday.

The consultant of the Center for Health Protection of the Department of Health in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Wong Ka-hing told a press meeting Tuesday that sexual contact remained the major mode of HIV transmission in Hong Kong.

According to the data, 438 new cases of HIV were reported in 2011, compared with 389 in 2010. Of the 438 new cases, 188 acquired the infection via homosexual or bisexual exposure and 117 via heterosexual contact.

There were 14 cases of drug injection and two cases via blood or blood product transmission occurring outside Hong Kong. The routes of transmission of the rest 117 cases had yet to be determined due to inadequate information.

The 121 HIV cases reported in the fourth quarter last year comprised 96 males and 25 females, among whom, 54 acquired the infection via homosexual or bisexual contact, 27 via heterosexual contact and five through drug injection. The routes of transmission of the rest 35 cases had yet to be determined.

Of the 26 cases confirmed with AIDS in the fourth quarter of 2011, 50 percent were related to homosexual or bisexual contact and another 31 percent were attributed to heterosexual contact.

Hong Kong has recorded 5,270 cases of HIV infections since 1984, and 1,267 cases of confirmed AIDS since 1985.