TheCable

Heathrow airport in London has started screening passengers flying into the UK for signs of Ebola, as part of the intensification of efforts to combat the disease.

According to BBC, screening began at the airport’s Terminal 1 and will be extended to other terminals, Gatwick airport and Eurostar by the end of the week.

Heathrow is expected to receive 85 per cent of all arrivals to the UK from affected countries.

UK Border Force officers will identify passengers flying from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Consultants from Public Health England will then carry out the actual screening.

Screening will include temperature checks, completing a risk questionnaire and recording contact details. Anyone suspected to have Ebola will be taken to hospital and have blood samples tested at Public Health England’s specialist laboratory.

Patients who test positive will be transferred to the specialist isolation unit at the Royal Free Hospital in London, the centre that cared for the British nurse William Pooley, who contracted Ebola in West Africa.

Hospitals in Newcastle, Liverpool and Sheffield are on standby to offer similar facilities if there is a sudden surge in Ebola cases.

Passengers considered to be high-risk due to contact with Ebola patients, but with no symptoms, will be contacted daily by Public Health England.

Ebola has killed more than 4,000 people in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, the worst-hit countries. Casualties have also been recorded in USA, Spain, Germany, Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria.