( CNN ) A plane passenger who had recently traveled to an `` Ebola-affected country '' does not have the virus and was released from the hospital , according to a statement from the New Jersey Department of Health . The health care worker was hospitalized after a flight landed at Newark Liberty International Airport on Monday , a hospital spokeswoman said . The passenger was kept overnight at Hackensack University Medical Center for further evaluation `` in an abundance of caution , '' spokeswoman Nancy Radwin said . Luke Punzenberger , a spokesman for United , said an ill passenger was on a flight that arrived in Newark from Brussels Monday afternoon . `` After arriving at Newark airport from Brussels , medical personnel met a United flight to assist an ill passenger on board , '' he said . `` Passengers and crew stayed on the plane until the medical personnel cleared the aircraft . '' While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledges it 's possible a person infected with Ebola in West Africa could get on a plane and arrive in another country , the chances of the virus spreading during the journey are low . `` It 's very unlikely that they would be able to spread the disease to fellow passengers , '' Stephen Monroe , deputy director of the CDC 's National Center for Emerging Zoonotic and Infectious Diseases , told CNN last year . `` The Ebola virus spreads through direct contact with the blood , secretions or other body fluids of ill people , and indirect contact -- for example with needles and other things that may be contaminated with these fluids . '' CNN 's Catherine E. Shoichet , Susannah Cullinane and Madison Park contributed to this report .
A state official says patient was released and did not have Ebola . The passenger arrived in Newark Monday after recent travel to an `` Ebola-affected country '' The patient was at Hackensack University Medical Center .