Bengaluru – A Ugandan woman who was quarantined in the Indian city of Bengaluru on suspicion of carrying Ebola has tested negative for the virus, India’s health ministry announced on Wednesday, though it did not say whether she would be released from isolation.
The 28-year-old visitor from Uganda did not show symptoms and was quarantined as a precaution after arriving in Bengaluru from the western industrial city of Ahmedabad on her journey from Uganda. The hospital’s medical superintendent, Dr Anil Kumar Banagar, said she showed no symptoms, though the ministry noted she had suffered mild body ache.
“The test result has returned negative for Ebola virus disease,” the health ministry said in a statement on the case, which, if confirmed, would have been India’s first Ebola case since 2014.
The news came a day after Indian Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda held a meeting to review the country’s preparations to tackle the disease, which the World Health Organisation has declared a public health emergency of international concern.
India has since launched screening and surveillance measures at airports and other entry points, issued public advisories on precautions and urged its citizens to avoid non-essential travel to Congo, Uganda and South Sudan. The India-Africa Forum Summit, which had been scheduled for this week in New Delhi, was postponed over public health concerns related to the outbreak in Africa.
The WHO has confirmed 101 cases among more than 900 people globally suspected of carrying the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, for which there is currently no approved vaccine or treatment.
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