There have been no laboratory- confirmed cases of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in South Africa associated with the current outbreak in West Africa, health authorities said on Thursday.

Given the frequency of travel between southern and western African countries, there is a risk of EVD cases being imported into South Africa, but overall this risk is low, the South African National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said in its latest update on the spread of EVD.

Healthcare or international agency workers involved in the outbreak response may also travel to and present in South Africa for medical care, the institute said, adding that a detailed history regarding travel and level of contact with suspected/ confirmed EVD cases is extremely important.

In a bid to relieve public scare about the EVD spread, the NICD said the risk of infection for travelers is generally low since most human infections result from direct contact with the body fluids or secretions of infected patients, particularly in hospitals and as a result of unsafe procedures, use of contaminated medical devices and unprotected exposure to contaminated body fluids.

As of Wednesday, a total of 1, 975 laboratory-confirmed, probable, and suspected EVD cases, including 1,069 deaths with a case fatality rate of 54 percent have been reported in the current EVD outbreak which affects Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone and Nigeria, according to the World Health Organization.