British health worker with Ebola flown from DR Congo to UK, treated at Royal Free

Mixed · 2The UK government confirmed on 4 November that a British citizen in the Democratic Republic of Congo has tested positive for Ebola. 1 2 Left · 2A government spokesperson said the risk to the UK public from Ebola remains low. 3 4 Centre · 1The spokesperson said the UK "has well-established procedures for dealing with cases like this", that those processes "have been activated", and that further information would be shared in due course. 5

Left · 1According to an official document seen by Reuters, the patient is a healthcare worker in stable condition who was to be medically evacuated to Britain, expected to arrive on Wednesday or Thursday and then be moved by specialist ambulance to a high-consequence infectious disease unit. 1 Right · 1On 4 November the BBC noted that the Foreign Office did not confirm whether the patient would be brought back to the UK and that it had not seen the internal document Reuters cited; it added that a UK resident exposed to the virus in July, and previous nationals infected abroad, were flown home for treatment. The next day the government confirmed the return. 6 Centre · 1On Thursday 5 November the BBC reported that the man, a health worker who has not been identified, had been flown back, landing at RAF Northolt before being taken to the specialist infectious diseases unit at the Royal Free Hospital in north London. 7

Mixed · 2The Department of Health and Social Care said the patient, described by the Guardian, Evening Standard and Express as a doctor whose identity is unknown, was brought home on a medical evacuation flight in a joint effort between the UK and DR Congo governments and international health partners. 8 9 Centre · 1Dr Renu Bindra, deputy director of the All Hazards Public Health Response team at the UK Health Security Agency, said UKHSA and the NHS have "well-established and robust infection prevention and control protocols to limit the risk of onward transmission", and that the risk to the wider public remains low. 9 Left · 2Metro reported that three police vans supported a convoy of emergency vehicles that stopped traffic and held back the public as the patient arrived at the Royal Free; the Guardian said the unit has strict protocols to keep patients from contact with the public and staff wear protective equipment. 10 8

Left · 1The patient's identity has not been disclosed; they had been sent to DR Congo by a humanitarian organisation to support the outbreak response. 1 Left · 1The document quoted British authorities as not expecting a serious public health impact in Britain or any disruption to international travel or trade. 1 Left · 1It is the first case involving a British national linked to the current outbreak, though other Europeans have been infected; France reported a case in a doctor returning from DR Congo in June, and Switzerland evacuated a patient from Nigeria last month. The UK Health Security Agency says only four cases have been confirmed in Britain since 1976. 1

Centre · 1The BBC describes imported cases as having caused no deaths in the UK: the four confirmed cases were one laboratory incident in 1976 and three health workers who responded to the West Africa outbreak in 2014-2015. 5 Centre · 2The Royal Free is one of only two UK hospitals equipped to treat Ebola, the other being the Royal Victoria in Newcastle, and it successfully treated three health workers evacuated from West Africa in 2014-2015. 11 7 Mixed · 2Experts quoted said the case was concerning but not unexpected: Dr Damien Tully of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine said it did not suggest the virus had become more transmissible, and Professor Emma Thomson of the University of Glasgow put the risk to the wider public as extremely low. 11 6

Mixed · 2Arab News put the outbreak at 10,600 infections and more than 5,100 deaths across 67 health zones in eight provinces, up from three zones in May, and called the man the third person to test positive and return to Europe; the BBC says two candidate Bundibugyo vaccines, from Oxford/Serum Institute and Moderna, are to join a clinical trial once Congolese authorities approve them. 6 7 Mixed · 2The outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo strain and declared in May, has passed 10,000 confirmed cases and nearly 5,000 deaths; GB News gives more than 10,500 cases and 5,100 deaths, spread across eight provinces with Kenya also affected. 12 2 Centre · 1The BBC reports a fatality rate of 48.6% at the end of last month, cases also confirmed in Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda, and no approved vaccine for the Bundibugyo variant. 5

Mixed · 2The Daily Mirror says the World Health Organisation has warned the outbreak is on course to surpass West Africa's 2014-2016 epidemic, which killed more than 11,000 people; Reuters describes it as the second-largest on record. GB News says no vaccine or specific treatment for this strain has been approved. 3 2 Centre · 1On 6 November Anadolu reported that Mohamed Janabi, the WHO Regional Director for Africa, thanked Congolese and UK authorities for "exemplary cooperation in facilitating the safe medical evacuation of the patient", and said contact tracing and surveillance continue in DR Congo to monitor and contain any further transmission risk. 13