The killer respiratory disease SARS continued to haunt Hong Kong on Saturday with three more deaths and 49 new cases, taking the total number of people affected to 1,108.

Hospitals in Hong Kong admitted 49 new patients with symptoms of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, the health department said.

These included three healthcare workers and 11 other patients from Amoy Gardens, the worst-hit housing colony. The remaining 35 were new patients and contacts of patients with the disease, also called atypical pneumonia.

Three SARS patients died at the Princess Margaret Hospital on Friday night and early on Saturday morning, taking the toll to 35.

The three were a man and a woman, aged 39 and 35, respectively, and a 67-year-old male patient who had a history of chronic disease.

A total of 215 patients have recovered from SARS and been discharged from public hospitals, a health department release said, adding that of them 46 were discharged on Saturday.

Of the remaining 893 patients, 120 are receiving treatment in intensive care units, the release said.

Meanwhile, the first SARS patient admitted to a hospital in Beijing on March 1 has recovered, Mayor Meng Xuenong announced on Saturday.

The patient, 26, is a native of Shanxi province in north China.