The first SARS patient in east China's Anhui Province is expected to be discharged from hospital by Monday, according to hospital sources.

The patient, surnamed Song, had normal temperature for 14 consecutive days and she has been able to do exercises out of bed for one week and wash clothes by herself, said Sun Gengyun, the doctor in charge of her treatment at the No.1 Hospital affiliated to the Anhui University of Medical Sciences, on Saturday.

Song, 26, does her postgraduate courses with the Anhui University of Medical Sciences. She was presumed to have contracted the disease when serving as an intern at the Beijing-based Research Institute of Virus Diseases under the Chinese Center for Disease Prevention and Control from March 7 to 22.

All the 115 people who had close contact with Song in the province have been out of quarantine.

(Xinhua News Agency May 8, 2004)