New York - A physician with Doctors Without Borders who returned to New York City after treating Ebola victims in West Africa has tested positive for the virus, the New York Times said on Thursday.
Dr Craig Spencer, 33, developed a fever and gastrointestinal symptoms after working for the humanitarian organisation in Guinea, one of three West African nations hardest hit by Ebola.
A specially trained team wearing protective gear transported Spencer to Bellevue Hospital from his Manhattan apartment, the city said in a statement.
The first confirmed case in America's largest city set off renewed fears about the spread of the virus, which has killed nearly 4 900 people, largely in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
The first person diagnosed with Ebola on US soil flew from Liberia to Texas and later died in a Dallas hospital. Two nurses who treated him became infected with the virus and one took a commercial flight with a fever, prompting officials in several states to take steps to become better prepared to contain the virus.
The Times said a further test will be conducted by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to confirm the initial test.
Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo planned a news conference at the hospital for 9pm ET (01h00 GMT).
A spokeswoman for the mayor said she could not confirm or deny the report and declined to comment ahead of the news conference.
De Blasio said earlier on Thursday that Spencer had been in direct contact with “very few” people.
However, the Times said Spencer travelled by subway to a bowling alley in the city's Brooklyn borough on Wednesday night and took a taxi home.
The bowling alley, identified by local media as the Gutter, was closed on Thursday. Heaven, a band that was due to perform, said on Twitter that its show had been cancelled because of an Ebola scare.
The health department had said Spencer's test results would take about 12 hours. The Times said the city stepped up its laboratory capacity to get the results within four to six hours.
Spencer's Facebook page, which included a photo of him clad in protective gear, said he went to Guinea around September 18 and then flew to Brussels on October 16.
He has specialised in international emergency medicine at Columbia University-New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York City since 2011, according to his profile on the LinkedIn career website.
Columbia in a statement said he has not been to work nor seen any patients since his return.
The health department said earlier in the day that it was tracing all of the patient's contacts to identify anyone who may be at potential risk.
Before Spencer was admitted to Bellevue, the staff spent about three hours shutting off certain areas to isolate the seventh-floor ward where he would be kept, one nurse aide said.
Spencer's apartment in Manhattan's Harlem neighbourhood was sealed off on Thursday, but the rest of the six-storey brick building remained open to residents, health officials said.
The virus is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids from an infected person and is not airborne.
The United States this week began requiring travellers coming from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea to enter through one of five airports conducting increased screening for the virus. It also is directing those travellers to check in with health officials every day and report their temperatures and any Ebola symptoms for 21 days. - Reuters