By Rishika Sadam and Kashish Tandon
HYDERABAD/ BENGALURU, India, May 27 (Reuters) – A Ugandan woman has tested negative for Ebola infection, India’s health ministry said on Wednesday, after she was quarantined in the tech hub of Bengaluru on suspicion of having the virus, but it did not say if she would be released from isolation.
The news comes a day after a meeting held by Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda to review preparations to tackle the disease, which the World Health Organisation has declared a public health emergency of international concern.
“The test result has returned negative for Ebola virus disease,” the health ministry said in a statement on the Bengaluru case, which, if confirmed, would have been the South Asian nation’s first since 2014.
The 28-year-old visitor from Uganda did not show symptoms and was quarantined as a precaution, said Dr Anil Kumar Banagar, medical superintendent at the hospital where she was isolated, though the ministry said she suffered mild body ache.
She arrived in the southern city from the western industrial city of Ahmedabad on her journey from Uganda.
India has launched screening and surveillance measures at airports and other entry points, issued advisories on precautions, and urged citizens to avoid non-essential travel to Congo, Uganda, and South Sudan.
The India-Africa Forum Summit scheduled this week in the capital, New Delhi, was postponed over the public health concerns in Africa.
The WHO has confirmed 101 cases among more than 900 globally suspected of the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, for which there is no approved vaccine or treatment.
(Reporting by Rishika Sadam and Kashish Tandon, Writing by Sakshi Dayal; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Clarence Fernandez)
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