A former regional press reporter now living in China has been given the all-clear after being forced to spend 11 days in quarantine to see if he had contracted the SARS virus.

David Winning, (27), who worked for the Eastern Daily Press before moving to Beijing to work at the China Daily newspaper two years ago, was ordered to stay in quarantine after a colleague developed the potentially deadly flu-like virus.

He was put into solitary confinement at his home and received daily doorstep deliveries, with his only contact with the outside world via telephone and e-mail.

But after safely passing through the incubation period for the disease he has now been allowed out of his flat.

David said: "It was an enormous relief because it meant there was no chance that I had been infected with the disease.

"I've been cycling around the city since my release just trying to observe how people are leading their daily lives in spite of the threat of SARS."

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