Police said on Sunday the death toll for the Tai Po inferno has risen to 146, after officers found 18 more bodies in their search of Wang Fuk Court.

The force said they cannot rule out whether or not there will be more fatalities as more than 40 people are still unaccounted for. A total of 79 people have been injured, while 54 bodies still need to be identified.

Officers searched Wang Kin House, Wang Tai House and Wang Shing House on Sunday. They have completed the search at four of the seven affected blocks.

They said many of the newly-found bodies were located in Wang Tai House, which they said was one of the blocks that caught fire early and had less time for evacuation.

Police New Territories North regional commander Lam Man-han said it may take them weeks to finalise the search for the three remaining blocks.

"Those remaining are the difficult ones. I have to be very prudent and I wouldn't shorten our estimate time for the time being, it's still three to four weeks," she told reporters at a briefing.

The commander said while Wang Chi House did not catch fire, the conditions around the block remain too dangerous for residents to return to collect their belongings.

She said there could be falling debris, and officers will work to clear dangerous items as soon as possible.

Police also said they have confirmed that 159 people that had been reported missing are safe.

The force decided to classify 100 reports of missing persons as impossible to process, after they went through the cases with those who filed the reports.

They said that is because there is not enough information to confirm the people concerned actually live in Wang Fuk Court, or there is not enough information to follow up on the cases.

The Housing Department, meanwhile, said initial inspections of all eight of the Wang Fuk Court buildings show that they are structurally safe.

But it noted some individual units had been seriously damaged and need emergency repairs before officers can enter them.