NIGERIAN MAN QUARANTINED IN HONG KONG TESTS NEGATIVE FOR EBOLA

0
523
HONG KONG (AFP) – A
Nigerian man who was quarantined after he showed Ebola-like symptoms while
travelling to Hong Kong has tested negative for the deadly virus.
The southern Chinese
city government said in a statement late Sunday that the man, 32, had “tested
negative for Ebola virus upon preliminary laboratory testing”.
“In the past one
month… he had no contact history with sick persons or animals and did not visit
health-care facilities. He is currently in stable condition,” a government
spokesman said in the statement.

The man arrived in
Hong Kong from Lagos, Nigeria’s most populous city, via Dubai on Thursday and
was hospitalized Sunday after vomiting and having diarrhoea.
Concerns are growing
over the potential spread of the disease which has claimed nearly 1,000 lives
in west Africa this year.
Hong Kong, a densely
populated city of some seven million people, is particularly alert to the
spread of viruses after Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome killed almost 300
people eleven years ago.
On July 30 the Hong
Kong government said it would quarantine as a precaution all people from Ebola
infected areas who showed any symptom of the disease such as fever, vomiting or
diarrhoea.
Last week a woman who
showed Ebola-like symptoms after returning from a holiday in Kenya tested
negative for the virus.
Nigeria along with
Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia have been hardest hit by the latest epidemic,
which the WHO has called the worst outbreak of its kind in four decades.
Nigeria — the most
populous nation in Africa — confirmed two new cases Friday of the often fatal
hemorrhagic disease, bringing the total number of infections to nine, including
two deaths.

The World Health
Organization has declared the epidemic an international health emergency, as
countries scramble to impose measures to prevent any spread of a contagion that
has claimed almost 1,000 lives.

LEAVE A REPLY

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.