Chinese waitress new Sars suspect

A waitress in southern China was declared a suspected Sars case yesterday, and in Hong Kong two members of a TV crew tested negative for the deadly virus, amid fears of an outbreak days ahead of Asia's biggest holiday.

China's Health Ministry said the 20-year-old waitress in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, was suspected of having Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome after having been in hospital for nearly two weeks. A seafood restaurant was besieged by reporters after media reports identified it as the establishment where she worked.

"Forty-eight people who had close contact with her have been isolated and 52 others who had normal contacts have been observed," the provincial health department said.

None displayed Sars symptoms, which include a high fever and dry cough.

A 32-year-old television producer confirmed this week as China's first Sars case since last year and identified only as Luo has recovered and left hospital yesterday. Three television workers from Hong Kong station TVB had visited an animal market and a hospital where Luo had been treated before they returned to Hong Kong on December 30 with fevers. They were held in hospital isolation wards.

Two have since tested negative for Sars, a Hong Kong government spokesman said. Test results on the third were pending, he added.

The Sars scare is emerging just ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays, when an estimated 1.89 billion journeys are forecast to be made by rail, road, ship and air around China.

Sars killed about 800 people worldwide last year, nearly 350 of them in China.

Luo's case has been linked to a coronavirus also found in wild civet cats, prized as a delicacy in southern China and sold in crowded markets. He denies eating civet and the source of his infection remains a mystery, complicating the larger question of whether the virus has begun to spread again.