Plastic vials allegedly containing a sample of the deadly Ebola virus were sent to New Zealand's leading newspaper and parliament on Tuesday, immediately sparking a scare through the island nation, Sky News Australia reported.
Shipped to the New Zealand Herald newspaper's office as part of a package from a "jihadist group," the vial contained a small amount of liquid in a plastic bottle along with an attached letter that claimed it to be a sample of the rare West African virus, Sky News Melbourne bureau chief Ahron Young said.
"An unaddressed package was sent to the New Zealand Herald offices in Auckland today," the newspaper's parent company, NZME, said in a statement. "Protocol was followed for a matter such as this and it is now a police matter."
Immediately after its contents were discovered in the mailroom at 9:30 a.m., the staff was evacuated while "all precautions were taken," according to a tweet sent by the Herald.
Police initially sent the bottle to be swabbed for DNA and checked for fingerprints before sending the vial over to Melbourne's specialist Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory to determine if it actually contained the killer disease, Auckland police said, adding that results are expected within a few days.
Although The Herald Sun and the New Zealand Herald believed the delivery to be a suspected hoax, a similar suspicious package was received at the parliamentary mailroom in Wellington just before 4 p.m., leading the place to be locked down as well, New York Daily News reported.
"Wellington Police have secured a package delivered to the Parliament mailroom today with the assistance of the Army's Explosive Ordnance Disposal team," New Zealand police announced.
It will undergo the same testing, police said.
Meanwhile, staff members who worked in the mailroom of the New Zealand Herald were assured by health officials that the risk of contamination was almost non-existent, according to New York Post.
"Police are often called to deal with and investigate the origins and contents of suspicious packages," Detective Inspector Scott Beard said. "The vast majority of them turn out to be benign, but we don't take any chances. This is no exception."
Since the Ebola outbreak, no suspected cases have been reported in New Zealand, Health Minister Jonathan Coleman said, adding that nobody was being treated for the disease in any of the nation's hospitals.
