China started killing thousands of civet cats for their suspected link to the deadly SARS virus, even as the country's first confirmed SARS patient of this year was on Tuesday declared fully fit.

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The 32-year-old television producer in South China's Guangdong province, who has been confirmed as a Severe Acute
Respiratory Syndrome patient, will be discharged from hospital on Thursday, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Tang Xiaoping, president of the No 8 People's Hospital of Guangzhou, the provincial capital, where the man has been
treated since December 24, said: "The patient has had a normal temperature since December 24."

The man met three standards set for a SARS patient to be discharged from the hospital in China: disappearance of shadows on the lungs, loss of accompanying symptoms and no fever for over a week.

The patient's condition has improved daily since he received conventional treatment from a team of 20 or so medical workers at Tang's hospital, including antibiotics and support treatment to prevent complications.

Authorities in Guangdong province have started killing some 10,000 civet cats which have been identified as a possible cause of SARS in human beings.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said the government has taken effective measures to monitor and contain the spread of SARS.