AKIPRESS.COM - A New York doctor with Ebola, who triggered a national debate over mandatory quarantines for health workers returning from West Africa, was upgraded to stable condition on Saturday after nine days of treatment, reports CBS.

A New York City emergency room doctor who was the first Ebola patient in America's biggest city has recovered and is scheduled to be released from the hospital on Tuesday, health officials said.

Dr. Craig Spencer, who was the only Ebola patient being treated in the United States, has been declared free of the virus, the city Department of Health said Monday in a statement.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said Spencer has suffered a lot the last few weeks but has "come back really strong." He called Spencer "a real hero."

"I'm sure he's a little weakened from the experience," de Blasio said, but he's "very, very healthy."

Health officials have stressed that Ebola is not airborne and can only be spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person who is showing symptoms. Still, news of Spencer's infection set many New Yorkers on edge, particularly after details emerged that he rode the subway, dined in a meatball restaurant and visited a bowling alley in the days before he developed a fever and tested positive.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie responded by announcing a mandatory 21-day quarantine for travellers who have come in close contact with Ebola patients.

Spencer tested positive for the virus on Oct. 23, just days after returning from treating patients in Guinea with Doctors Without Borders.

The 33-year-old has been treated in a specially designed isolation unit at Manhattan's Bellevue Hospital, a designated Ebola treatment centre. His condition was upgraded from serious to stable last week.

His fiancee and two friends were initially quarantined but were released and are being monitored along with hundreds of others.

Spencer is expected to issue a statement but not take questions when he's released from the hospital.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and Cuomo had urged residents not to be alarmed by Spencer's Ebola diagnosis, even as they described him riding the subway and taking a cab. De Blasio said all city officials followed "clear and strong" protocols in their handling and treatment of him.