Two suspected Sars patients in southern China have been confirmed to have the disease.
The two cases were a 20-year-old restaurant waitress and a 35-year-old businessman, the official Xinhua News Agency said in a brief dispatch, citing the Health Ministry.
The two people were identified as suspected cases on January 8 and January 13, Xinhua said.
"After strict tests by the World Health Organisation laboratories, they were confirmed to be Sars cases," Xinhua said.
The woman was discharged from hospital today and all the people who had contact with her have been removed from medical observation without showing any symptoms, Xinhua said.
The businessman was in stable condition, it said.
The season's first confirmed case, a 32-year-old television producer, was released from the hospital last week.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome emerged in November 2002 in Guangdong and sickened more than 8,000 people globally before subsiding in June.
Story filed: 09:45 Saturday 17th January 2004
Uh oh.