New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo urged residents to stay calm amid confirmed reports that a doctor, who returned home from Guinea, has tested positive for Ebola.
A news report published by the Huffington Post said that this is the first ever recorded Ebola case in the city. De Blasio was quoted in the same report telling residents, especially those who were not exposed, not to be alarmed.
The 33-year-old doctor was identified as Craig Spencer, a volunteer for Doctors without Borders, USA Today said. He reportedly experienced some of the symptoms of Ebola -- high fever and diarrhea.
De Blasio told residents to stay calm and to continue with their daily routines as no additional cases have been reported to date. USA Today added that Spencer did follow "standard medical protocol." It noted that Spencer took his own temperature twice a day. He also did not see any of his patients. However, he did go out with two of his friends and with his fiancee. They are now being quarantined.
British newspaper The Telegraph reported that Spencer also "visited a city park, had a meal at a restaurant, visited a Brooklyn bowling alley, took at least three subway trains and went for a three-mile run."
Craig Spencer's current condition
According to the report of USA Today, Dr. Mary Travis Bassett, New York City Health Commissioner, Spencer is currently in a "stable condition under isolation" at Bellevue Hospital Center.
The report also said that Cuomo and de Blasio have spoken to President Barack Obama, who vowed federal government assistance.
To allay fears, de Blasio said that the Ebola virus is "an extremely hard disease to contract," as reported by USA Today. He also reminded the public that it can only be transmitted through direct contact with bodily fluids. City residents have also been urged to get flu shots.
Stricter preventive measures
Meanwhile, mandatory quarantine for medics treating Ebola victims have already been ordered in New York as well as in New Jersey, the Agence France Presse reported. Any person who had direct contact with any Ebola patient in any of the West African countries affected by the disease must now undergo 21 days of mandatory quarantine, the new guideline said. Additional screening protocols in JFK and Newark international airports have also been announced by governors Andrew Cuomo and Chris Christie, it added.
Nina Pham, the nurse who contracted the disease while treating, Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian national who died of Ebola, is already free from the disease, Yahoo News said. The nurse has also been invited by President Obama in the White House. The President even hugged her.
According to the latest data provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a total of 4,877 deaths have already been recorded out of the 9,937 cases. Liberia recorded the highest death toll with 2,705 out of the 4,665 total cases. It is followed by Sierra Leone with 1,259 deaths out of the 3,706 total cases. Meanwhile, a total of 904 deaths were recorded in Guinea out of the 1,540 cases. Another Ebola case was recorded in Senegal and another one in Spain. No deaths have been recorded in the two nations. Out of the 20 total cases in Nigeria, eight have been reported dead. While in the U.S., one out of the four confirmed cases, died of the disease.
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