This after the Democratic Alliance’s Jack Bloem caused a public panic with claims that a lady, from Guinea, who went into labour at the Rahima Moosa Hospital, west of Johannesburg, had contracted the disease.

The Minister said the lady tested negative for the disease and there is still no sign of the disease in the country.

“She did not even have symptoms…” he said.

“We did the PCR on the lady and she is negative — that’s the normal test that the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) does for Ebola. We still took precautions… we did the serology, although it was not necessary, and it was also negative,” said Minister Motsoaledi on Thursday.

He called the urgent media briefing following allegations that a female patient admitted at a hospital was infected with the disease.

The test, called DoD EZ1 Real-time RT-PCR Assay, is designed for use on individuals who have symptoms of Ebola infection, who are at risk for exposure or who may have been exposed.

Available: http://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/no-sign-ebola-sa