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Ottawa Public Health officials say a patient who was in isolation at The Ottawa Hospital does not have the Ebola virus.

The unnamed patient was one of two in Ontario — the other is in a Belleville hospital — with symptoms and a travel and exposure history that prompted health authorities to consider Ebola as a possible cause of their illness. Both were placed in isolation pending the outcome of tests.

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Early Monday evening, the Ottawa Hospital and public health officials cleared their patient, saying test results were “negative” and “the patient will no longer require isolation.”

The decision offers a modicum of relief in a world increasingly concerned about the seemingly rapid spread of the Ebola virus from its origins in West Africa. Even as Ottawa health officials were awaiting the test results, the World Health Organization called the Ebola outbreak “the most severe, acute health emergency seen in modern times.” According to the UN agency, the virus has killed more than 4,000 people worldwide.