In an official statement, the Health Ministry stressed that the risk of Ebola in Italy "remains very low."
The tests carried out on the two suspected patients hospitalised in isolation at the Sacco Hospital in Milan have come back negative for the Ebola virus, with Italy's Health Ministry stressing that the risk of Ebola in the country "remains very low".
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The results followed a health alert issued in the northern Lombardy region after the two suspected cases of Ebola were detected in the province of Como.
The cases concern a woman from Lurate Caccivio and a man from Bulgarograsso who returned from Uganda during the weekend with other members of their families after spending around three months in the East African nation as humanitarian aid workers.
The two suspected Italian cases had been transferred as a precaution to the specialist facility for high-risk infectious diseases following the onset of symptoms consistent with haemorrhagic fever, where tests under national and international protocols were conducted.
Ebola risk low in Italy, authorities say
Although the woman’s condition was considered more serious, she had developed a very high fever and some neurological symptoms, which had led doctors to consider the possibility of cerebral malaria. The man’s condition, by contrast, was less severe, with a moderate fever and intestinal problems.
Lombardy's regional welfare minister, Guido Bertolaso, confirmed that emergency procedures had been activated, while stressing that there is currently no official confirmation of the presence of the virus.
"There is still no certainty that this is Ebola," Bertolaso said at a press conference earlier and hours before the results of the testing of the suspected cases.
Bertolaso also criticised the premature circulation of images and statements about the case, stressing that the procedures triggered were simply precautionary measures laid down in international health protocols.
According to the regional minister, some of the public communications may have fuelled alarm among the population even before any official clinical confirmation.
Meanwhile, in an official statement, Italy's Health Ministry stressed that the risk of Ebola in the country "remains very low".
The ministry also confirmed that the national system for preparedness and response to infectious emergencies was fully operational.
The ministry also said it was continuing to monitor the situation for other members of the two families who had returned from Uganda with the patients.
The current Ebola outbreak's epicentre is in the Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which borders Uganda, but there have been cases reported in Uganda, with some seven cases of the haemorrhagic virus verified by Kampala officials as of Monday.