Indonesian patients test negative for Ebola: Ministry

Laboratory test results conducted on five patients who fell ill after recently arriving from African countries have come back negative for Ebola, the Health Ministry has said.

"Indonesia has confirmed that the five patients tested negative for the Ebola virus," said the ministry in a release made available to The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

The five patients were identified only as MA, 32, from Ghana; NN, 57, from North Sumatra, AN, 31, from Central Java; MS, 29, from East Java; and G, 46, from East Java. All of the patients are male.

Based on World Health Organisation (WHO) data, as of Nov.11, the number of cases in the current Ebola outbreak has reached 14,072, of which 5,151 have died or 36.60 per cent of the total confirmed cases.

WHO confirmed Ebola cases had been reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), four affected countries in West Africa, Spain and the United States.

In Guinea, the number of Ebola cases has reached 1,919, of which 1,166, or 60.80 per cent, have died. Liberia has recorded 6,878 cases with 2,812 deaths, or 41.57 per cent, while in Sierra Leone there have been 5,586 confirmed Ebola cases, of which 1,169, or 21.77 per cent, have died. Mali has had four Ebola cases, of which three have died.

In the US, one or, 25 per cent, of four Ebola patients, have died while in Spain, one patient is reported to have been suffering from Ebola infection. In the DRC, the number of Ebola cases has reached 66, with 49, or 74.24 per cent of the total patients, having died.