Chinese patient still a suspected Sars case

China waited to learn yesterday whether or not Sars had returned as doctors and international experts tried to crack the case of a 32-year-old television producer suspected of having caught the deadly virus.

The Health Ministry said the return of Sars still had not been confirmed as of yesterday morning after investigations of the patient in hospital in the southern city of Guangzhou, contradicting a Hong Kong television report.

However, Hong Kong leader Tung Chee-hwa said experts believed the virus was highly likely to be Sars and his administration promptly swung into action to take precautions.

It is China's first suspected Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome patient since the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the world Sars free in July.

The WHO, now aiding the investigation, said it still could take days to reach a conclusion. The WHO's Beijing-based Sars coordinator, Julie Hall, said the Guangzhou case was still only a suspected case.

"There's some additional test results that everyone is looking at at the moment, trying to again understand and interpret it all," she said.

In Hong Kong, Mr Tung told reporters: "Before I left my office, I suddenly got this piece of news: although the suspected Sars case in Guangzhou is not yet confirmed to be Sars, experts say the possibility is very high." He did not identify the news source or the experts.

"So I needed to review with my colleagues all our precaution measures. That's why I'm late," he said.

Calling on Hong Kong and Guangdong to strengthen border health checks, Tung said the province's governor Huang Huahua had repeatedly reassured him that health checks would be beefed up for Guangdong visitors to Hong Kong.

Earlier this year, a Sars-infected Guangdong doctor came to Hong Kong and carried the virus to the city, resulting in a mass outbreak killing almost 300 people in the territory.

China's Health Ministry has said the latest patient has had a normal temperature for nearly a week and was stable.

None of the 42 people quarantined after having close contact with him had shown any Sars symptoms, such as a high temperature or breathing difficulty.

The man was first diagnosed with pneumonia in one of his lungs on December 16 but a battery of tests has netted a jumble of conflicting results. The WHO says an array of further tests is necessary to determine whether he has Sars.

Yesterday, a four-member WHO team travelling with counterparts from the Ministry of Health began an inspection tour of Guangzhou.

The experts, mainly epidemiologists, visited the hospital where the patient is staying, met local health officials and checked prevention measures.

Another WHO laboratory specialist from Australia had also begun to review case data in Beijing on the suspected patient, an agency official said.

Sars emerged in Guangdong in late 2002 and travellers spread it to nearly 30 countries. A total of about 8,000 people were infected around the world and about 800 of them died. About 350 of the deaths were in China.

The epidemic ravaged many Asian economies as tourists and business travellers shunned the region and fearful residents stopped going out.

Two recent confirmed cases in Singapore and Taiwan were blamed on mishaps in medical research laboratories. Both patients have since recovered and been released from hospital.

In Guangzhou, life appeared to be as normal on Beijing Road, one of the booming city's busiest commercial areas.

Pharmacy worker Z.P. Liu said his shop had stocked up on anti-viral drugs that were sold out during the earlier Sars outbreak.

"We started stocking up in anticipation of more people buying them," he said. "But we haven't seen any panic buying since the government revealed the suspected case."