A nursing sister being treated for viral haemorrhagic fever at the Morningside Medi-Clinic has been moved from the intensive care unit, a spokesperson for the hospital group said on Wednesday.

"She remains in isolation and is slowly but steadily improving," Medi-Clinic northern region marketing manager Melinda Pelser said in a statement.

"Medical experts do not consider her to be infectious any longer, but as a precautionary measure will keep her in isolation for another three weeks," she said.

The nurse, who name has been withheld, treated one of three people who died of the virus at the hospital in the past month. A fourth person, a cleaner, had traces of the virus in her body when she died while also afflicted with meningitis.

The nurse's condition was confirmed by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) and announced on 12 October.

She is the only person still being treated for viral haemorrhagic fever at the Morningside Medi-Clinic.

Although the hospital is still monitoring 39 people who had contact with those known to have been infected, none were showing signs of the disease, said Pelser.

Monitoring would continue for 21 days from the person's last close contact with an infected person who had become sick.

Temperature monitoring was carried out at their homes or at work, and the results were telephoned in to Morningside Medi-Clinic. Anyone who showed a change in temperature was taken to the hospital for increased temperature monitoring.

Temperature fluctuations did not mean the person had symptoms of the disease, only that closer monitoring was advisable, Pelser said.

Sapa