An emergency room doctor who was the first Ebola patient in the nation's biggest city has been released from a New York City hospital and thanked the medical workers who treated him.

Dr. Craig Spencer was released from Bellevue Hospital on Tuesday at a joyous news conference where medical team members were cheering and hooting. It happened 19 days after he was diagnosed with the virus.

He says he's a living example for how medical protocols can work to stop disease from spreading. He also says the public should remain focused on the source of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

The physician had been working with Doctors Without Borders.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and his wife both hugged the 33-year-old doctor.

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