A 30-year old hospital doctor has died of SARS, becoming the eighth and youngest front-line health care worker to be killed by the disease in Hong Kong, officials said Monday.

Dr. Cheng Ha-yan died late Sunday night at Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital, where she was transferred after being infected by a patient who initially had no obvious SARS symptoms, officials said. Cheng had been hospitalized since April 21.

Cheng worked in the department of medicine and geriatrics at Tai Po Hospital and voluntarily joined the SARS team, said the Hospital Authority, which described her as a ``kind-hearted and patient-centered'' doctor.

``She has demonstrated the highest level of dedication, devotion and profession in looking after patients,'' Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa Tung said in a statement. ``I join the community to extend our deepest condolences to her family.''

The Hospital Authority said it would give Cheng's family a donation from its charitable foundation on top of other compensation. It did not specify the amount.

Cheng was the second public hospital doctor to die of the virus in Hong Kong. Two other private doctors also succumbed to the disease earlier, as well as a nurse and three health care assistants, including 53-year-old ward attendant Wong Kang-tai, who died Saturday.

Officials reported three new cases of SARS on Sunday, including two patients at North District Hospital, where three health care workers were confirmed on Saturday to have contracted SARS. One other medical worker was suspected to be infected.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome has killed 281 people and sickened 1,742 people in Hong Kong, including 384 health care workers. But the disease seems to be tapering off and some 1,318 people have recovered.