The alert was issued to all institutes and schools to carry out health checks on all people returning from southern Guangdong province, where the nation's first SARS case since last spring's outbreak was detected over the weekend, Xinhua news agency said.

The notice also urged all students to be on alert during the upcoming Spring Festival, or China's Lunar New Year holiday, with schools expected to embark on a month-long break beginning in mid-January.

Colleges and universities in Beijing were also required to maintain contacts with all students who return to their hometowns during the break and "to brace for any possible SARS cases," it said.

Guangdong health officials said Tuesday that a 32-year-old freelance journalist had come down with SARS on December 16, but the central ministry of health is still going over tests to verify the findings.