A POSSIBLE fifth case of the killer Sars virus has been reported in the UK.

The latest suspected case of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome was reported to the Health Protection Agency's Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre.

It concerns a man who returned to the UK from Taiwan on March 29 and was admitted to hospital in the east of England on Saturday and is now in a stable condition.

The Department of Health and the Health Protection Agency have confirmed concerns about the fifth suspected case.

A statement said: "Other people who were in close contact with him in the UK are being monitored in case they develop any symptoms, but there is no evidence of this so far.

"Three of the other probable cases who were being treated in various London hospitals have all now recovered and have been discharged from hospital."

The fourth case, reported on Saturday, is being treated in North Manchester General Hospital and is in a stable condition. She fell ill after returning from Singapore.

The cause of the illness has not been identified but symptoms include fever, aches, dry coughing and shortness of breath.

The Health Department has advised Britons not to travel to Hong Kong, which has seen more than 700 cases and 20 deaths, or the Guangdong province of China, which accounts for 40 deaths.

So far, the virus has infected 2,416 people in 18 countries and killed 89 people.

A relative of a family thought to have been affected by the Sars virus, yesterday spoke of his relief after they were allowed to go home.

Alistair McNicol, from Northallerton, North Yorkshire, was unable to leave the region to visit his sister, Margaret Garland, her husband and daughter, when they were taken into an isolation unit.

From his home Mr McNicol, 55, said: "I'm just happy that they are on the mend. They have had to undergo a number of tests, which have proved to be inconclusive.

"They did have the symptoms of the bug but it is very possible that it was something else."

Mrs Garland, 64, her husband, Michael, and daughter Lindsay, 25, fell ill last week and spent three days in hospital near their home in Forfar, Scotland.

Last month the couple visited their other daughter, Alison, in Hong Kong.