Vietnam releases two Nigerians isolated for Ebola tests, saying no symptoms shown

Members of Myanmar's Ministry of Health watch the screen for temperatures of passengers at the international airport in Yangon on Aug 20, 2014. Vietnam has released two Nigerians isolated after arriving from west Africa with fevers, saying they show
Members of Myanmar's Ministry of Health watch the screen for temperatures of passengers at the international airport in Yangon on Aug 20, 2014. Vietnam has released two Nigerians isolated after arriving from west Africa with fevers, saying they show no symptoms of the deadly Ebola virus, while in Myanmar, a local man is still undergoing tests after arriving from Guinea with a fever. -- PHOTO: AFP

HANOI (AFP) - Vietnam has released two Nigerians isolated after arriving from west Africa with fevers, saying they show no symptoms of the deadly Ebola virus.

Ebola test results for the pair are not yet known, but the Health Ministry said their condition had improved.

"After 24 hours of monitoring, the two patients were without fever, showing no abnormal signs or symptoms related to Ebola," it said in a statement released late on Wednesday.

The two men will be put under "community surveillance" for three weeks from the date they left the affected area, the ministry said.

Airline passengers sitting next to the pair - who travelled to Vietnam on Monday from Nigeria via Qatar - have also been advised to monitor their health conditions.

Vietnam has introduced mandatory temperature checks at its two major international airports in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in a bid to prevent passengers bringing the deadly virus into the country.

According to the World Health Organisation, the latest official toll from Ebola has jumped 106 in two days to 1,350 dead, with the bulk of cases in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

In Myanmar a local man is still undergoing tests after arriving from Guinea with a fever.

In a statement on Thursday, Myanmar's Ministry of Information said the man was found to be suffering from malaria.

"After he was given treatment for malaria, his health condition has improved this morning," it said, adding that authorities still planned to send samples to India for Ebola testing.

The state-backed New Light of Myanmar newspaper said the 22-year-old man, who is being kept in isolation in a Yangon hospital, had worked in Guinea and Liberia for 13 months.

Four people who accompanied him from the airport to the hospital are also being monitored, although they do not have symptoms.

The report said health officials are screening people for fever at points of entry to the country and authorities had disinfected the plane that the man was travelling in, as well as parts of Yangon's international airport.

Myanmar's medical system is chronically under-funded and ill-equipped after years of junta rule, which came to an end in 2011.

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