China on Friday confirmed two cases of SARS, and said anyone found with fever on its borders would be quarantined, report agencies. 

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome spread from the Chinese province of Guangdong in late 2002  to more than 30 nations, infecting at least 10,000 people and killing nearly 800.

Addressing journalists after a meeting of regional health ministers in Penang, Malaysia, China's Vice Minister of Health Zhu Qinsheng  said  one patient was a 20-year-old Beijing nurse and the other a 26-year-old woman in  Hefei, capital of the eastern province of Anhui. Both are being treated in isolation wards. 

"We learned from the experience of last year's SARS outbreak and this time we will do our best and immediately alert the public.  We are prepared. We are confident that SARS will not spread like it did in the past," he said. 

Officials said Ditan hospital in Beijing was well equipped to handle the cases,  and several wards had been sterilized and assigned for other possible patients. These include 171 people who had close contact with the Beijing nurse, five of whom have symptoms of the disease.

In Hefei, 88 people who had close contacts with the affected woman had been isolated, said a Hong Kong Cable Television Channel.