The samples were tested and all those suspected of being infected tested negative, Tanzanian Health Minister Jenista Mhagama said in a statement released through the press on Thursday, adding that the portfolio under her responsibility took urgent preventive measures.

Rumors of an outbreak of the disease in Tanzania gained momentum last Tuesday when the World Health Organization reported nine suspected cases in the northwestern Kagera region, eight of whom died from the disease.

The now-dismissed reports circulated just days after authorities in Rwanda last September gave up on the outbreak in that country, which borders Tanzania to the north, where 15 people died in the latest outbreak of the disease.

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