BEIJING, Jan 7: Unannounced inspections on wildlife farms, markets and restaurants took place in Beijing on Wednesday as health officials stepped up measures to combat any possible resurgence of Sars , state media reported.

"We did not find any civet cats on the market or in restaurants during our inspection," a police spokesman was cited by Xinhua news agency as saying. "The only civet farm has been quarantined and we haven't decided how to deal with the animals."

China reported its first Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome case since July on Monday in Guangzhou city, capital of southern Guangdong province. Local government departments in China beefed up their supervision and management of wildlife markets this week after genetic tests indicated a possible link between the Sars patient and a virus found in the civet cats.

Xinhua said civets are now being strictly monitored across China with forestry departments in Hainan, Hebei and Liaoning provinces starting to take emergency measures to collect and quarantine the wild animals.

Authorities in Guangdong have ordered all civet cats be killed and demanded wildlife markets are closed. To date, 289 civet cats have been quarantined in Beijing's only civet farm.

"We haven't sold even a single civet cat since our farm was put off limits to outsiders since the Sars outbreak last year," said Deng Shicai, the farm owner.

"All the civet dung was disinfected and we disinfect our only two employees whenever they leave the farm," Deng said. Beijing put some 1,800 kinds of wildlife on its protection list and banned restaurants from offering civet during the Sars outbreak last year.-AFP