Less than two weeks after testing positive for the virus, nurse Nina Pham is now Ebola free. CCTV America’s Jim Spellman reports.

“I would first and foremost like to thank God, my family and friends. Throughout this ordeal, I have put my trust in God and my medical team. I am on my way back to recovery even as I reflect that many others haven’t been so fortunate,” Pham, 26, said.

She contracted the disease at a Texas hospital while treating Liberian Thomas Eric Duncan, the only patient to die of Ebola in the U.S. She was transferred last week to the U.S. National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, outside of Washington D.C.

Pham singled out fellow Ebola survivor Kent Brantly, a physician who recovered from the virus, for donating plasma containing Ebola-fighting antibodies as part of her care.

Anthony Fauci, the infectious disease chief at the NIH, gave Pham a hug and told reporters that five consecutive tests showed no virus left in her blood. Five tests is way beyond the norm, he stressed, but his team did extra testing because the NIH is a research hospital.

Watch Nina Pham’s complete statement below.

“We think of the National Institutes of Health as also the national institutes of hope, and I think hope just went up a notch today.” added Francis Collins the director of the institutes.

Before returning home, Pham met with President Obama at the White House and received a hug meant to comfort her and perhaps also reassure nervous Americans.

Fellow nurse Amber Vinson also contracted Ebola from Duncan and she is also reportedly Ebola free. She remains in a hospital in Georgia.

At a hearing in Washington, the Ebola cases have also led some lawmakers to question the U.S. response.

“Americans are understandably worried. Worried about their government’s response to the outbreak and in particular the steps we are considering to contain the spread of Ebola.” said Republican Rep. Darrell Issa, of California.

Public health officials have refined response protocols since the first case in Texas and are now considering a mandatory 21-day isolation for high-risk people returning from West Africa.

Ultimately, to stop Ebola in the U.S. and around the world, it must be stopped in Africa where nearly 5,000 people have died from the virus. The World Health Organization is ramping up efforts to develop and implement a vaccine and could have hundreds of thousands of doses ready by next year.

“I don’t know exactly how much vaccine will be available in 2015, but it will be in 2015. That’s absolutely for sure.” said Marie-Paule Kieny an assistant director-general at the World Health Organization.

A vaccine is not considered likely to stop this outbreak, but it could help contain the spread of the disease to other countries and help better protect vulnerable health care workers.

For more insight on the fight against Ebola, CCTV America interviewed Mead Over, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development in Washington D.C.

Article compiled with information from CCTV America and Associated Press reports.

EU leaders pledge $1.2B to fight Ebola

European Union leaders pledged to create a fund with more than $1.2 billion to fight Ebola in West Africa. The new fund was announced after the bloc agreed to the world’s most ambitious emissions-reduction targets. CCTV America’s Jack Barton reports from Brussels.

European Union leaders wrapped up their two-day summit agreeing to roughly double financial support towards fighting the deadly Ebola epidemic in West Africa.

Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron was the driving force behind the initiative.

“Over a billion Euros across Europe will be galvanized and spent on dealing with this issue,” Cameron said.

The EU also earmarked the equivalent of an additional $31 million towards developing an Ebola vaccine. Leaders also appointed a special coordinator on Ebola who will work closely with the United Nations to develop a more organized response to combating the epidemic.

The summit’s other big breakthrough was the announcement that by 2030 the bloc will strive to have cut 1990 carbon emission levels by 40 percent. The bloc also aims to dramatically raise energy efficiency and the use of renewable technologies over the same time-frame. If other countries do not sign off on similar targets at a big UN climate conference in Paris next year, the EU reserves the right to adjust those targets downwards.

New York officials reassure residents following 1st report of Ebola case in city

At the Bellevue Hospital in downtown Manhattan, the first Ebola case in the country’s most populous city is being treated in isolation. Craig Spencer, a physician, remains in stable condition, and city officials said he poses no threat to others. CCTV America’s Liling Tan reports.

“The capacity of our medical community to address this issue is extraordinary. Again you’re talking about Bellevue, which is one of the world’s most capable hospitals when it comes to challenges and crisis.” said New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.

De Blasio also said events unfolded in line with protocols, from the patient notifying public health authorities, to his transfer to the hospital, to retracing his whereabouts in the days before he was symptomatic. The patient’s fiancee and two of his friends are currently under quarantine.

Spencer, 33, is a New Yorker who was working with Doctors without Borders to treat Ebola patients in Guinea. He returned to New York a week ago and began presenting symptoms on Thursday morning, including a fever of around 38 degrees Celsius or 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit. He also had stomach discomfort, nausea, and fatigue.

Authorities say Spencer visited a bowling alley, used the subways, and a taxi service in the days before he showed symptoms, but they assured New Yorkers that the disease can only be spread through the exchange of body fluids.

For more on Ebola virus’ spread and hospital protocols, CCTV America interviewed Elaina George, an expert on health care delivery.