Suspected Ebola patient tests negative in Japan

A non-Japanese national who returned to Tokyo from Liberia has tested negative for the Ebola virus after developing a fever on Sunday night, the health ministry said on Monday.

The man, in his 40s, is not a health worker and said he did not have contact with any Ebola patients in the West African country, Xinhua news agency reported citing the ministry.

He tested positive for malaria and negative for influenza in tests conducted after he was admitted to a hospital in Tokyo.

The Tokyo resident returned to Japan on March 4 from Liberia where he stayed from last summer to March 2.

The latest patient is the sixth case of suspected Ebola infection in Japan. All of them have tested negative.

The toll from the outbreak of the fatal infectious disease in West Africa, particularly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, escalated to 10,000, while the number of people infected increased to 24,350, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.