Results on the second patient were still awaited but a senior health official said it was "strongly believed" Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) could be ruled out.

Although the two female flight attendants who arrived in Sydney Tuesday aboard a flight from China's southern Guangdong province appeared free of SARS, government officials here announced plans Thursday to designate SARS-specific hospitals and local fever clinics to handle any future outbreak.

The two female flight attendants were placed in a quarantine unit of Sydney's Saint Vincent's Hospital Tuesday suffering from fever, headaches and other pains.

Their condition aroused concern as China has recently reported one confirmed case and two suspected cases of SARS in Guangdong, months after the disease was considered contained in July.

But Thursday the director of New South Wales state communicable disease department, Paul Armstrong, said clinical test results indicated the pair were not infected with SARS.

"An alternative diagnosis of influenza has been made for one of the patients," Armstrong said.

"Results are still awaited on the second patient although her condition has improved and it is strongly believed that SARS can be ruled out," he said.

Both patients were to remain under observation in hospital overnight and if they remain in a stable condition would be discharged Friday, Armstrong said.

The scare prompted Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson to call on Australian authorities to review their SARS response plans.

"You go over your handling mechanisms, you just make certain they are all in place, they are all ready and the procedures you put in place, should it re-emerge, are ready to run," he said.

Meanwhile in New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, a Taskforce on SARS issued a series of recommendations Thursday including a proposal to designate a small number of hospitals to exclusively manage and isolate SARS patients in the event of an outbreak.

Local health services would also choose sites like community centers to act as fever clinics equipped with medical professionals to diagnose people who fear they may have SARS and refer them to a SARS hospital.

The NSW state government said it would implement all the recommendations.

SARS emerged in China in late 2002 and infected more than 8,000 people last year, killing nearly 800, mostly in China, Hong Kong and Singapore but also in Canada.

During that outbreak, Australia had only one confirmed case of SARS, a foreign tourist who became ill after arriving from Hong Kong but who later recovered.

TERRA.WIRE