Some staff have been asked to stay away from the restaurant

Yang Sing, in Princess Street, said it had told any of its 100 staff returning from the region to stay at home for a week.

The Sars virus (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) has killed more than 200 people across the world and infected nearly 3,500.

The restaurant feared it could be brought to Manchester via staff returning from visiting relatives in Hong Kong and other parts of the Far East

'Not alarmed'

But co-owner Gerry Yeung said the right precautions had been taken.

He said: "The general feeling is that we want to be aware and alert but not alarmed.

"In so far as the staff that have travelled abroad what we have asked them to do is have a self-imposed quarantine for a week after they come back to the UK.

"Obviously it is serious and I think it is tragic that many people are dying from it.

"But I think you have to still say, providing the right action is taken, it is not an epidemic over-running the whole world."