UK Health Radio – Medical News Update on the Hour - Ebola Update

UK Health Radio – Medical News Update on the Hour

Ebola Update

As concern about Ebola continues the BBC have reported that staff at Manchester and Birmingham airports will begin checking passengers from at-risk countries.  It is also being introduced at Gatwick and Eurostar next week while screening of arrivals from West Africa, where 4,500 have died in the outbreak, started at Heathrow on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, a British ship carrying medical teams and aid experts has left the UK for Sierra Leone.

RFA Argus, which has a fully-equipped hospital, should reach the region by the end of the month with 225 military personnel and will provide support to workers in Sierra Leone but will not treat civilians infected with Ebola.

David Cameron had earlier urged other countries to follow Britain's lead in tackling the Ebola outbreak.

The prime minister described it as "the biggest health problem facing our world in a generation" and called on other nations to "look at their responsibilities".

The BBC reports that Canada and the US have already introduced increased screening of travellers arriving at airports from West Africa and France is to check passengers flying to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport from Guinea's capital from Saturday.

In September, about 1,000 people arrived in the UK from Ebola-affected countries in West Africa however there are currently no direct flights to the UK from the three worst affected countries - Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

British Airways recently took the step of suspending flights between Britain and Liberia and Sierra Leone because of the "deteriorating public health situation" in the two countries.

Public Health England had initially ruled out screening because the risk of Ebola arriving in the UK was low and screening "huge numbers of low-risk people" was thought to be inpracticable.

Downing Street said the Chief Medical Officer for England, Dame Sally Davies, still regarded the risk to the UK as "low".

Conservative MP Sir Roger Gale has called for the screening regime to be extended to ferry passengers arriving at the port of Dover.

Port officials said they would "support whatever measures the government deems appropriate" and remain vigilant.

Amanda Thomas

UK Health Radio – Medical News Update on the Hour

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