A British healthcare worker who contracted Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) is being evacuated to the UK for specialist treatment, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing an official document. The patient is in stable condition, according to the report.
The worker was expected to arrive in Britain on Wednesday or Thursday before being transported by a specialist ambulance to a high-security infectious disease unit, the document showed. He had been deployed to DR Congo by a humanitarian organization to help fight the ongoing outbreak.
“A British citizen currently in the DRC has tested positive for Ebola,” a UK government spokesperson told Reuters, adding that established procedures had been activated. “The risk to the UK public from Ebola remains low.”
The case is the first involving a British national during the current outbreak, which began in DR Congo in May and is caused by the Bundibugyo virus. It has become the country’s largest and deadliest Ebola outbreak, with 10,668 confirmed cases and 5,198 deaths recorded as of November 3, according to the country’s Health Ministry. The outbreak has affected 67 health zones across eight provinces, with Ituri accounting for more than 70% of all infections.
The virus has also reached Uganda, Kenya, and Nigeria. In Kenya, five patients were discharged on Tuesday after testing negative, leaving two people in hospital. The country’s Health Ministry reported nine confirmed infections and two deaths, with no new cases since October 19.
Kenyan authorities also released 46 people from quarantine after they completed monitoring without developing symptoms. Another 52 contacts are expected to finish their 21-day observation period by November 11, according to the ministry.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s disease control agency said on Sunday that two suspected Ebola cases in the northeastern state of Adamawa had tested negative twice. The country has recorded one confirmed infection, involving a Swiss woman who was evacuated to Switzerland with her husband in late October.
Uganda recorded 20 confirmed cases and two deaths before its outbreak was declared over in August.