The 100 people with "close or normal contacts" with the 20-year-old restaurant waitress showed no abnormal symptoms, according to the report.

It said that the patient had fever on Dec 26, 2003, and was isolated for medical observation on Dec 31 in No.1 People's Hospital in Yuexiu District of Guangzhou.

The patient, who was later transferred to No.8 People's Hospital in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, had been in stable condition with normal body temperature for seven days in succession, said the report.

Further epidemiological and laboratory testing was still underway, said the report.

Also on Thursday, the first SARS patient, a television producer, was free to leave hospital after medical treatment and the last people having contact with him had also been relieved from quarantine.

Other municipalities, autonomous regions and provinces in the Chinese mainland reported no new SARS cases, said the report.

(Xinhua News Agency January 9, 2004)