Mayor Bill de Blasio made the announcement at a news conference late on Thursday, hours after the doctor was admitted to a city hospital with symptoms, and taken into isolation.
Dr. Craig Spencer, 33, was tested at Bellevue Hospital, where results indicated he has the disease, the mayor said.
Mindful of public concern about whether Spencer could have infected others, Governor Andrew Cuomo told the news conference at Bellevue that since returning to the United States earlier this month from Guinea, Spencer had been exposed to "very few people."
Spencer developed a fever and gastrointestinal symptoms after working for the humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders in Guinea, one of three West African nations hardest hit by Ebola.
A specially trained team wearing protective gear transported Spencer to Bellevue Hospital from his Manhattan apartment, the city said in a statement.
The first confirmed case in America's largest city set off renewed fears about the spread of the virus, which has killed nearly 4,900 people, largely in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
The first person diagnosed with Ebola on U.S. soil flew from Liberia to Texas and later died in a Dallas hospital. Two nurses who treated him became infected with the virus and one took a commercial flight with a fever, prompting officials in several states to take steps to become better prepared to contain the virus.
The Times said a further test will be conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to confirm the initial test.
De Blasio said earlier on Thursday that Spencer had been in direct contact with "very few" people.
However, the Times said Spencer traveled by subway to a bowling alley in the city's Brooklyn borough on Wednesday night and took a taxi home.
The bowling alley, identified by local media as the Gutter, was closed on Thursday. Heaven, a band that was due to perform, said on Twitter that its show had been canceled because of an Ebola scare.
Spencer's Facebook page, which included a photo of him clad in protective gear, said he went to Guinea around Sept. 18 and then flew to Brussels on Oct. 16.
He has specialized in international emergency medicine at Columbia University-New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York City since 2011, according to his profile on the LinkedIn career website.
Columbia in a statement said he has not been to work nor seen any patients since his return.
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
