Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun said more complaints of potential child abuse had been lodged after the law requiring people working in 25 professional categories to report suspected serious maltreatment cases came into effect on Tuesday.

Sun said on Saturday that the increase was expected and showed that the government's efforts to promote awareness of potential child abuse over the past one-and-a-half years had borne fruit.

"With the legislation and extensive promotional work we have carried out, society's awareness of the responsibility to prevent child abuse has significantly increased," he said.

"The higher number of reports in recent days also shows that everyone understands their responsibility in this matter."

Sun also said he believed it would not be difficult to abide by the Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse Ordinance due to training provided for professionals in the 25 categories and that they could follow a guide that had been published by the government when there were any doubts over their responsibility to report potential abuses.