NEW YORK — An emergency room doctor who was the first Ebola patient in the nation’s biggest city has recovered and is scheduled to be released from the hospital on Tuesday, health officials said.

Dr. Craig Spencer, who was the only Ebola patient being treated in the United States, has been declared free of the virus, the city Department of Health said Monday in a statement.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said Spencer has suffered a lot the last few weeks but has “come back really strong.” He called Spencer “a real hero.”

“I’m sure he’s a little weakened from the experience,” de Blasio said, but he’s “very, very healthy.”

Spencer tested positive for the virus on Oct. 23, just days after returning from treating patients in Guinea with Doctors Without Borders. He has been treated in a specially designed isolation unit at Manhattan’s Bellevue Hospital, a designated Ebola treatment center. His condition was upgraded from serious to stable last week, and he was feeling well enough to request an exercise bike and a banjo.

His fiancee and two friends initially were quarantined but were released and are being monitored along with hundreds of others.

Spencer, who’s 33, is expected to issue a statement but not take questions when he’s released from the hospital.