UK to introduce Ebola screening as death of Briton reported in MacedoniaAnnouncement comes as Foreign Office investigates reports that Briton has died in Macedonia of suspected EbolaTravellers arriving at British airports will be screened for symptoms of Ebola, the virus that has claimed over 3,800 lives in west Africa.
The announcement by Downing Street comes as Foreign Office officials investigate reports that a British national has died in Macedonia of suspected Ebola.
If confirmed it would be the first death of a UK national from Ebola, although British nurse Will Pooley was cured of the virus last month. An FCO spokesman said: “We are aware of the reports and are urgently looking into them.”
People travelling to the UK from the worst affected countries – Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea – will face checks on their recent travel history, who they have been in contact with and their onward travel arrangements as well as a possible medical assessment. In the first place the checks will be carried out at London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports and Eurostar terminals.
The policy follows advice from the chief medical officer and will involve trained medical personnel being deployed alongside UK Border staff.
The move came just hours after the British defence secretary, Michael Fallon, appeared to resist such a move, citing World Health Organisation advice that screening for fevers or temperature is better conducted in the exit country. Shortly afterwards the chancellor, George Osborne, said airport checks would be introduced if medical experts deem it necessary.
The apparent U-turn follows growing public concern about Ebola reaching the UK from west Africa, which has been hit by the worst outbreak of the virus since it was discovered in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1976. The health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has warned a person with Ebola coming to the UK was “entirely possible”. Hospital doctors, the ambulance service, local authorities and the police will this weekend stage war game-style simulations to test Britain’s ability to cope with an outbreak.
However, leading experts in infectious diseases have warned airport screening in the UK is “very ineffectual” and risks creating “a false sense of security”. But they also moved to play down fears of a major UK outbreak. Peter Piot, a Belgian microbiologist who is part of the World Health Organisation’s Ebola science group, said: “I’m not concerned about an outbreak in western Europe, in the UK, like we are seeing in west Africa.”
Cases have already been reported in Spain and the US, where a man died on Thursday after flying in from Liberia with the disease. Washington has announced that travellers from the worst-hit countries will have their temperatures taken on arrival at five major airports in New York, Washington, Chicago and Atlanta.
UK border officials have been instructed to check passengers for visible signs of the virus since July. The move to introduce more detailed vetting could potentially involve using electronic screening equipment. It represents a major escalation of attempts to prevent the illness gaining a foothold in Britain. Technology used elsewhere include infrared thermometers that can be pointed at passengers faces from within 15cm to detect fever, and thermal scanning cameras that can check several people at once but are less accurate, according to a report by US experts.
The UK’s chief medical officer, Professor Dame Sally Davies, said: “Although the risk to the UK remains low, in view of the concern about the growing number of cases, it is right to consider what further measures could be taken, to ensure that any potential cases arriving in the UK are identified as quickly as possible.
“Rapid access to healthcare services by someone infected with Ebola is not only important for their health but also key to reducing the risk of transmission to others. These measures could include a further UK based package of measures to identify and assess the health status of passengers arriving from the affected countries and to ensure that those individuals know what to do should they be taken ill whilst in the UK.”
Pressure for airport screening grew early on Thursday when Keith Vaz, chairman of the home affairs select committee, which scrutinises border controls, called for the tests “to ensure that this deadly disease cannot take more lives”. Andy Burnham, the shadow health secretary, also urged the government to consider passenger screening “without delay”.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/o ... a-symptoms
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