A 35-year-old man was confirmed Monday afternoon as the Chinese mainland's third suspected SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) case, according to the Guangdong Provincial Health Department.

The patient now is receiving treatment at the No. 8 People's Hospital of Guangzhou after being transferred from the Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital on Jan. 9.

The newly confirmed suspected SARS patient reported symptoms off ever on Dec. 31 of 2003 and was sent to the Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital on Jan. 6.

Doctors said that the patient was under recovery and was expected to leave the hospital in a few days.

On Jan. 8, a 20-year-old restaurant waitress was confirmed to be a suspected SARS case in Guangzhou.

The waitress from central Henan Province reported symptoms of fever on Dec. 26, 2003 and now, she is now under quarantine and receiving treatment in the Guangzhou No. 8 People's Hospital.

The temperature of the waitress has remained normal and authorities have stepped up protective measures for the medical staff, local health officials said.

Medical experts on SARS in Guangdong had begun disinfection of the patient's living environment and 48 people who had close contact with the waitress have been quarantined and found no symptoms of fever so far, they said.

Meanwhile, another 52 people who had contact with the suspected SARS case were also under close medical observation.

The 32-year-old freelance TV worker in Guangdong who was the first confirmed SARS patient in China's mainland after the spring outbreak of the epidemic in 2003, left the hospital on Jan. 8.

(Xinhua News Agency January 13, 2004)