Hong Kong's COVID-19 outbreak is "likely to worsen" before showing any signs of improvement, which could delay the expansion of regional quarantine-free travel, including in Macau, and negatively impact the Hong Kong gaming industry, Andrew Lee, an analyst at brokerage Jefferies Hong Kong Limited, said on Wednesday.

The Hong Kong Health Protection Centre said on Wednesday it was investigating 8,674 additional COVID-19 cases, three of which were imported and the rest were local infections. The total number of positive cases in Hong Kong rose to 75,248 as of Wednesday.

Starting Feb. 17, people arriving in Macau via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao bridge (pictured) will have to wait at the border crossing point - possibly for up to six hours - for the results of a COVID-19 nucleic acid test.

Those who test "negative" will be taken to a medical observation hotel in Macau for 14 days of quarantine.

"Historically, Hong Kong accounted for 15% to 20% of Macau casinos before the pandemic, but the importance of that market now in Macau's gaming sector is "small,"" Li wrote in a note on Wednesday, adding that mainland Chinese arrivals to Macau "made up 93% of all arrivals" during the recent Chinese New Year holiday.

He was writing in the context of a memo on fourth-quarter and full-year earnings for Macau casino company Galaxy Entertainment Group, referring to the recent seven-day Lunar New Year holiday that began Jan. 31.

"Management emphasized that the economic recovery will remain 'gradual, managed and unstable,'" the analyst noted, referring to comments from the gaming group.

In a note on Wednesday, Vitaly Umansky, an analyst at brokerage Sanford C. Bernstein, said the COVID-19 outbreak in Hong Kong "delayed the reopening of Hong Kong this year and the travel disruption became apparent," referring to observations by Galaxy Entertainment executives