HEATHROW airport is to start screening for Ebola among passengers flying into the UK from countries at risk.
The health secretary told MPs a "handful" of cases were expected to reach the UK before Christmas. Screening will start at Terminal 1, before being extended to other terminals, Gatwick airport and Eurostar by the end of the week. In September, about 1,000 people arrived in the UK from Ebola-affected countries in West Africa.
Symptoms of Ebola include fever, headache, vomiting, diarrhoea, bleeding - but these are similar to more common infections like flu and some stomach bugs.
If you have these symptoms and have had contact with an Ebola patient then ring 111 first, do not go directly to A&E or a GP. If there has been no contact with Ebola then seek help from 111, your GP or A&E if necessary.
The chances of developing Ebola in the UK remain low. People flying from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea will be identified by Border Force officers. Nurses and consultants from Public Health England will then carry out the actual screening. Passengers will have their temperatures taken, complete a risk questionnaire and have contact details recorded.
Anyone with suspected Ebola will be taken to hospital.
Passengers deemed to be at high risk due to contact with Ebola patients, but who are displaying no symptoms, will be contacted daily by Public Health England. Ebola has killed more than 4,000 people in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. A spokesman for Heathrow said the welfare of "our passengers and colleagues is always our main priority". He added: "We would like to reassure passengers that the government assesses the risk of a traveller contracting Ebola to be low."
There are no direct flights to the UK from Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea, which means people travelling from those countries would have to catch a connecting flight to the UK and could arrive at airports that are not screening passengers. Instead "highly visible information" will be in place at all entry points to the UK. The Department of Health estimates that 85% of all arrivals to the UK from affected countries will come through Heathrow.
Simon Calder, the Independent's travel editor, has gone through the flight schedules between Africa and Europe and says a flight that left Liberia for Brussels on Monday night is the only one of interest. "No-one knows what is happening behind the scenes," he said. "The most positive assumption is that the government has demanded details from the airlines of anyone transferring to the UK."
Three airlines are operating out of the three most-affected countries - Air France, Royal Air Maroc and Brussels Airlines - and there are only a handful of flights a week, he added.
Screening arrivals marks a rapid shift in policy from the UK government.
Just last week, it said there were no plans for screening as people were tested before leaving affected countries.
The WHO said it was unnecessary and that it would mean screening "huge numbers of low-risk people". In the Commons on Monday, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the UK needed to prepare for the situation deteriorating in West Africa.He said: "[The chief medical officer] confirms that the public health risk in the UK remains low and measures currently in place, including exit screening in all three affected countries, offer the correct level of protection.
"However, whilst the response to global health emergencies should always be proportionate, she also advises the government to make preparations for a possible increase in the risk level." Anyone in the UK with suspected Ebola will be taken to hospital and blood samples will be taken to Public Health England's specialist laboratory for rapid testing.
If the test is positive, then the patient will be transferred to an isolation unit at the Royal Free Hospital in London. It is the centre that cared for the British nurse William Pooley, who contracted Ebola in West Africa.
Hospitals in Newcastle, Liverpool and Sheffield are on standby to offer similar facilities if there is a sudden surge in Ebola cases. A total of 26 isolation beds could be prepared at the four hospitals.
Mr Hunt said tackling the outbreak in Africa was the "single most important way" of preventing Ebola arriving in the UK. He added: "We should remember that the international community has shown that if we act decisively we can defeat serious new infectious disease threats such as Sars and pandemic flu.
"The situation will get worse before it gets better, but we should not flinch in our resolve to defeat Ebola both for the safety of the British population and as part of our responsibility to some of the poorest countries on the planet.
Source: BBC
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