The patient who died at Muhima Hospital after showing Ebola signs on Wednesday did not die of the Ebola virus, the Ministry of Health said yesterday.

"Results on samples taken from the patient tested negative for Ebola virus disease,” the ministry said in a statement.

"There is no Ebola in Rwanda but due to population movements, there is a high risk that the epedemic can spread to the country  any time. The Ministry of Health urges the public to remain vigilant and report any suspected cases immediately,” the statement adds.

It assured the public that the ministry will always provide credible information on any case that is considered a public health threat.

"Through the emergency preparedness team, the Ministry continues to take action to prevent potential health risks that might be caused by Ebola. Plans have been elaborated to effectively respond should the disease occur within our borders.”

The deceased, who was identified as Maria Mukamakuza, 58, sparked panic at Muhima Hospital on Wednesday, temporarily bringing work at the health facility to a standstill.

Mukamakuza, who died 12 hours after arriving at the hospital, was a resident of Gatsata Sector, Gasabo District.

She had high fever, abdominal pain, headache, bloody diarrhoea and vomit, according to Innocent Ndagijimana, a nurse in charge of emergence and out-patient care at the hospital.

The symptoms provoked scare among health workers, care givers and patients at the hospital, who feared the patient could turn out to be the first Ebola case in the country.

"She was brought to the hospital unconscious and we subjected her to intravenous fluids and pain relieving drugs, but her condition deteriorated and she died just as we were in the process to transfer her to CHUK (University Teaching Hospital of Kigali),” Ndagijimana said.

Ndagijimana told Saturday Times that after collecting blood sample of the deceased by Rwanda Biomedical Centre experts, the body was held in the hospital mortuary pending laboratory results.

Fidele Ntabajyana, the widower, said the victim fell sick three weeks after returning from Cyangugu town in Rusizi District, Western Province.

"She fell sick on Monday evening, forcing us to take her to Muhima health centre the following day (Tuesday) because her condition was deteriorating,” he said. Later the health centre referred her to the Muhima Hospital.

Besides the Ebola outbreak in West Africa which has killed close to 3,000 people over the last six months, there has been another outbreak in neighbouring DR Congo.

 However, there have been no reported cases close to the Rwandan border.

Rwanda has also taken several preventive measures including thorough screening at all entry points, and limiting travel to the affected West African countries, among others.

Early August, a German student was isolated at a quarantine centre in Kigali after he showed Ebola-like symptoms having recently travelled through Sierra Leone – one of the countries hardest hit by the deadly disease – but tests turned negative. It later turned out he had malaria.

An analysis of the latest Ebola outbreak in West Africa in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that the death rate is 70 per cent, in the three worst-hit countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, when deaths outside hospitals are counted.