A Nigerian man who was quarantined after he showed Ebola-like symptoms during a trip to Hong Kong has tested negative for the deadly virus.
The southern Chinese city government said in a statement on Sunday that the man 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-are facilities,” a government spokesman said in the statement. “He is currently in stable condition.”
The 32-year-old arrived in Hong Kong from Lagos, Nigeria’s most populous city, via Dubai on Thursday and was hospitalised on Sunday after vomiting and suffering from diarrhoea.
A densely populated city of some seven million people, Hong Kong 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, also tested negative for the virus.
Local broadcaster RTHK reported that the Nigerian man had arrived in Hong Kong from his home country on Thursday and was vomiting before he was hospitalised on Sunday morning. Agency report