The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says Taiwan is unlikely to see an outbreak of Ebola.
The CDC made the statement on Thursday, in response to a report that a Hong Kong citizen was suspected to have contracted the deadly Ebola virus.
Deputy director of the CDC, Chuang Jen-hsiang, said the Hong Kong patient was not a suspected case and that she did not visit areas affected by the virus.
"We contacted Hong Kong’s Centre for Health Promotion, and they confirmed that the patient visited Kenya. She was in East Africa, not West Africa, the area affected by the disease, so she is not a suspected case," said Chuang.
"Here I would like to stress that we’re closely monitoring the Ebola outbreak in three West African nations, and that the risk of the virus spreading to Taiwan is very low," he said.
A CDC physician, Philip Lo, said the outbreak is still confined to West Africa. He also said that Taiwan does not have direct flights to Guinea, Liberia, or Sierra Leone, the three countries affected by the outbreak, so the risk of the virus spreading to Taiwan is low. He called on people who travel to the affected area to avoid coming into contact with Ebola patients, bats, and primates.