The 32-year-old man who was quarantined with symptoms of Ebola on arrival from Nigeria on Sunday, has tested negative, a civic health official has said.
The man suffered a running nose, body ache and body temperature, all symptoms of the Ebola disease and since he was travelling from a country that is affected by the virus, the airport officials decided to quarantine him.
He was admitted to the Jogeshwari Trauma Centre of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
"The Ebola virus infection report has come negative," Dr Mangala Gomare, head of the epidemiology department of the BMC, said on Monday. Gomare is co-ordinating the efforts to guard against any possible breakout of the deadly virus in the city.
Blood samples of the man were sent to the National Institute of Virology, Pune, and the test results were conveyed on Monday evening.
The man is a resident of Vasai and he will be discharged from the trauma centre soon. "Quarantining him was a precautionary step. However, he did not have fever after admission to hospital," Gomare said.
Nigeria is one of the West African countries that have been worst hit by the Ebola virus, which has claimed over a thousand lives – the world's deadliest outbreak. It began in southern Guinea and spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Special check for Liberian travellers
On Tuesday, airport authorities said over a hundred passengers were expected to arrive in Mumbai and Delhi from Liberia and a special screening for Ebola symptoms would be conducted as they exit the aircraft. The aircraft would be directed to a remote bay and steps taken to also disinfect the planes. Travellers would be allowed to board the aircraft on the return flight only after this operation. Any passengers found to suffer from the symptoms would be quarantined, the officials said.
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