A British healthcare worker who tested positive for Ebola while working for a humanitarian organisation in the Democratic Republic of Congo is being medically evacuated to the United Kingdom, a government document shown by Reuters confirmed.
The patient, whose identity is not publicly disclosed, is currently in a stable condition and an air lift is scheduled to bring him to London on Wednesday or Thursday. From there he will be transferred by a specialist ambulance to a high‑consequence infectious disease unit for intensive care.
For the evacuation, the UK has activated protocols that allow the swift transport of potentially dangerous pathogens for treatment. Officials said the patient’s case is the first involving a British national linked to the current outbreak, although other European citizens have also been infected.
Health authorities reiterated that the risk to the UK public from this imported case is low and there is no expectation of any disruption to international travel or trade.
The outbreak in the DRC, which started last July, is the second‑largest on record, with over 10,000 confirmed cases and nearly 5,000 deaths reported by late October. The World Health Organization notes that Ebola’s fatality rate can reach about half of cases on average.
Britain has recorded only four confirmed cases of Ebola since 1976. In an effort to contain the virus, other nations have also evacuated patients; Switzerland last month moved an Ebola patient from Nigeria for treatment, and France reported a doctor returning from a humanitarian mission in Congo as its first confirmed case linked to the outbreak.
