'There is a possibility that the patient may have contracted the Sars coronary virus,' Xinhua news agency reported, citing a laboratory with the Guangdong provincial centre for diseases prevention and control.

The patient, a 32-year-old television worker, was announced as a suspected severe acute respiratory syndrome case last Saturday, sending ripples through a region that was severely affected by the mystery virus last year.

Earlier this week, Guangdong health bureau spokesman Feng Shaoming said local tests showed he had indeed been infected with Sars, but the Ministry of Health later said it wanted to carry out further tests.

The report on Xinhua was published while testing of samples from the patient were underway in two Hong Kong laboratories to definitively determine whether the deadly virus has resurfaced after a six-month lull.

'The samples have arrived in Hong Kong and the initial testing is underway in two (WHO-affiliated) laboratories,' World Health Organisation spokesman in China Roy Wadia said Friday.

It is likely the results will be passed to China's Ministry of Health before being made public by the WHO. The ministry agreed to ship the samples overseas after repeated tests this week proved inconclusive.

Whatever the outcome, WHO predicts China's radically-raised level of alert and resources spent on curbing the Sars virus will prevent any major outbreaks.

The WHO was not immediately available to comment on the Xinhua report.