UPDATE: Traveler From West Africa Hospitalized For Potential Ebola Exposure Not Showing Symptoms

UPDATE: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Wednesday that the passenger from West Africa traveling through Newark Liberty International Airport who was hospitalized Tuesday was not showing Ebola symptoms and, very likely, doesn’t have the disease.

Christie said the passenger was “asymptomatic,” he said, speaking during a press conference televised by News12 at the Hackensack University Medical Center.

The passenger, who was not identified, was hospitalized because of possible Ebola exposure, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.

Carol Crawford, a CDC spokeswoman, said in a statement that the passenger was transported to University Hospital in Newark for further evaluation and possible treatment.

She said public health officials will contact other passengers on plane to determine if “there was any risk to the other passengers of exposure to communicable disease.”

She credited the enhanced screening process for people arriving in Newark from Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea in helping identify the potential threat.

All passengers traveling from Ebola-affected countries will be required to fly into one of the five airports - including Newark Liberty - that have the enhanced screening and additional resources in place, the Department of Homeland Security announced Tuesday.

» Related: Vomiting Child Hospitalized for Ebola Monitoring After Landing at O’Hare in Chicago

Jeh Johnson, homeland security secretary, announced in a press release that the restrictions began Wednesday, impacting travelers arriving in the United States whose travel originates in Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea.

Enhanced screening measures have been established at five airports around the country – New York’s JFK, Newark, Dulles, Atlanta and Chicago.

The Newark incident was the latest in a series of episodes involving cases where people were identified as having Ebola-like symptoms. In nearly all these cases, the test results have proven to be negative.

A patient with Ebola-like symptoms was treated at a hospital in Washington, DC, raising more fears the highly contagious virus, which has caused more than 3,000 deaths in western Africa, could continue to migrate to the United States. The patient ultimately did not test positive for Ebola.

Tests also showed that a medical student suspected of having an Ebola infection in Connecticut did not in fact have the contagious disease.

There have been three confirmed cases: Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian man who died from the virus in a Dallas hospital, and of two nurses who treated him. Scientists and doctors have warned that chances of a widespread outbreak are unlikely.

This week, the Department of Homeland Security responded to pressure from public officials and others who called for travel restrictions.

Passengers flying into one of the five airports from flights originating in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea are now subject to secondary screening and added protocols, including having their temperature taken, before they can be admitted into the United States, Johnson said.

These airports account for about 94 percent of travelers flying to the United States from these countries. Currently, there are no direct, non-stop commercial flights from Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea to any airport in the United States, Johnson said.

“We are working closely with the airlines to implement these restrictions with minimal travel disruption,” Johnson said. “If not already handled by the airlines, the few impacted travelers should contact the airlines for rebooking, as needed.”