Hong Kong officials have postponed next year's university entrance exams and dropped some related assessments to give students more time to prepare following months of COVID-19 disruption, it was announced on Tuesday.

The Examinations and Assessment Authority announced at a press conference earlier in the day that the 2021 Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) written exams will now take place between April 23 and May 17, 2021, about a month later than previous years, reports the South China Morning Post (SCMP) newspaper.

A backup plan is also in place for the exams to be held from June 3, with the results released by August 31 under that scenario, or on July 21 for plan A.

The Chinese and English language speaking components will be cancelled again after the pandemic forced a similar arrangement this year.

"Under this contingency plan, universities' admission plans and the beginning of their academic year should (still be mostly unaffected)," the SCMP quoted HKEAA Secretary-General So Kwok-sang as saying at the conference.

The 2020 DSE exams were postponed by a month to late April in a decision prompted by a surge in COVID-19 cases.