Ebola outbreak: 5-year-old boy tests negative for deadly virus at New York hospital

The child returned from Guinea on Saturday - one of the west African nations at the epicentre of the deadly outbreak

Bellvue Hospital, where a 5-year-old was brought taken on Monday morning after showing ebola-like symptoms after recently returning from West Africa (Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

A five-year-old New York City boy who returned to the US from Guinea with a fever has tested negative for Ebola, according to health officials.

The child returned from the West African country with his family on Saturday and fell ill on Sunday - prompting his parents to contact the authorities.

Members of the emergency services dressed in protective clothing then took the boy and his mother to Manhattan's Bellevue Hospital.

On Monday, the boy had developed a fever – a symptom of the deadly virus - but later tested negative for the disease.

Officials say they will carry out further tests as a caution, and said the boy will stay at hospital until results come back.

The boy’s mother is with him at the hospital, explained New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said, because, "by definition, we want her with the child, because we want the child to have the support of his mother"

"The mother has no symptoms whatsoever," he said, the New York Times reported.

Meanwhile, a doctor who treated Ebola patients in Guinea, and tested positive for the disease upon his return to the US last week, remains in the hospital where the young boy was being treated. Dr Craig Spencer, who worked for Doctors Without Borders, remains in a serious but stable condition, said Mr de Blasio.

In total, four people have been diagnosed with Ebola in the US.

The World Health Organisation recently reported that more than 10,000 people have been infected with Ebola in the outbreak that came to light last March, and nearly half of them have died - mostly in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Additional reporting by AP