New York Mayor hugs it out with last US Ebola patient

The last known Ebola patient in the United States, a New York doctor who contracted the virus while treating infected people in west Africa, has been released from hospital after being declared cured.

Craig Spencer, an emergency room doctor in New York, appeared at a press conference on Tuesday flanked by Mayor Bill de Blasio to announce that he had been discharged from Bellevue Hospital - one of a handful of US medical facilities designated to handle Ebola.

"New York City's first and only Ebola case is successfully treated. Dr Spencer is Ebola-free and New York City is Ebola-free," De Blasio proclaimed at the hospital, to cheers and applause.

Spencer, 33, was admitted to the hospital after returning from Guinea, which, along with Sierra Leone and Liberia, is one of three hard-hit west African countries where the often fatal disease is raging.

He returned to the United States on October 17 after returning from several weeks volunteering with the Doctors Without Borders group.

On Tuesday, he said he was grateful for the high-quality medical care he received during his illness, and urged that more be done for those suffering from Ebola in Africa.

"Today I am healthy and no longer infectious. My early detection reporting and now recovery from Ebola speaks to the effectiveness of the protocols that are in place for health staff returning for from west Africa," he said.

"While my case has garnered international attention, it is important to remember that my infection represents but a fraction of the more than 13,000 reported cases to date in west Africa... where families are being torn apart and communities are destroyed."