An Italian doctor with a medical aid NGO will be flown back to Italy from Sierra Leone after testing positive for the Ebola virus, Italian news agency ANSA said on Monday.

The doctor, who has become the first Italian to contract Ebola during the current outbreak of the deadly virus in west Africa, is scheduled to arrive in Italy on Monday night, ANSA said.

He will be immediately transferred to the Spallanzani hospital in Rome, which specializes in infectious diseases.

ANSA said all the necessary measures to ensure the safe transportation and accommodation of the patient under maximum security, and to promptly begin clinical treatment have been carried out by the Italian authorities.

"I feel I can reassure his family that the doctor is fine, had no fever or other symptoms during the night, this morning he had breakfast and continues to drink autonomously," Italian health minister Beatrice Lorenzin was quoted by the news agency as saying.

Around 5,000 people have died from contracting the Ebola virus and over 13,000 cases of infection have been confirmed, according to figures released by the World Health Organization (WHO) earlier this month.