The suspected SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) patient in south China's Guangdong Province was in stable situation, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in Beijing Saturday.

"There was no report of any SARS case in the 24 hours from 10:00 a.m. Friday to 10:00 a.m. Saturday on the Chinese mainland, " the MOH said in its daily SARS report released on its official website.

According to reports from all localities, there was only one suspected SARS case in Guangdong but no clinically confirmed case by 10:00 a.m. Saturday, the ministry said.

None of the 81 people who had had close or general contact with the suspected SARS patient showed any abnormal symptoms, and 34 of them have so far been discharged from medical observation, noted the MOH.

The ministry resumed daily reporting on the epidemic disease on September 19, 2003.  

(Xinhua News Agency January 4, 2004)