Somalia rules out virus outbreak

Somalia's government has confirmed that there are no cases of the Ebola virus in the Horn of Africa nation.

Health Minister Ali Mohammed Mohamud refuted local media reports that there was a suspected Ebola case in the town of Buulo Sharey in the lower Shabelle region.

"As soon as we heard the rumors of a case of Ebola virus in Somalia, we acted quickly and decisively to isolate the alleged victim, a Somali citizen named

Abdulkadir Jinow Barow, and those who had been in contact with him," Mohamud said on Saturday.

He said it soon became apparent that the man did not have the Ebola virus, but he was nonetheless moved to Mogadishu as a precautionary measure, and put through a series of tests by health ministry doctors.

Meanwhile, a South Korean health worker suspected of being infected with Ebola was admitted on Saturday to Berlin's Charite, one of the largest university hospitals in Europe, said the Berlin Senate Department for Health and Social Affairs on Saturday.

In the United States, Nebraska medical officials say a US healthcare provider who had high-risk exposure to the Ebola virus while working in Sierra Leone will be observed at a biocontainment unit in Omaha. The unidentified patient was scheduled to arrive on Sunday afternoon aboard a private air ambulance.

AFP - AP - Xinhua