PARIS, June 24 (Xinhua) -- France has identified and isolated five people who may have been exposed to Ebola after sharing a flight with a doctor who tested positive for the virus. French Health Minister Stephanie Rist said on Wednesday that the doctor had worked in the Democratic Republic of the Congo before returning to France.
According to the minister, the patient is an "experienced doctor returning from a mission" who did not know he had contracted the virus. "He had no symptoms when he boarded the plane, and he was not contagious (...) As he is a doctor and developed headaches on the plane, he raised the alert" so that he could be taken care of upon arrival in Paris.
The man was placed in isolation at hospital as soon as his flight landed. He will remain there "for 21 days, the duration of the incubation period," she added.
According to Congolese health authorities, the cumulative number of confirmed cases in the country has risen to 1,094. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control estimates that the risk of infection for people living in Europe is very low.
