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Ebola in the UK: NHS health worker diagnosed with virus being transferred to Royal Free Hospital in London

The woman, who had been working in Sierra Leone with Save the Children, has been in isolation in hospital in Glasgow since yesterday morning

Scott d'Arcy,Lucinda Cameron
Tuesday 30 December 2014 07:06 GMT
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A general view of a High Level Isolation Unit at the Royal Free hospital
A general view of a High Level Isolation Unit at the Royal Free hospital (GETTY IMAGES)

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An NHS worker who has been diagnosed with Ebola after returning to Glasgow from Sierra Leone is believed to be on the way to specialist facilities in London this morning.

The woman, who had been working in Sierra Leone with Save the Children, has been in isolation in hospital in Glasgow since yesterday morning and is currently in a stable condition.

She flew back to the UK via Casablanca and London Heathrow, arriving at Glasgow Airport at around 11.30pm on Sunday evening on a British Airways flight.

She was admitted to hospital early yesterday morning after feeling feverish and was placed into isolation in the Brownlee Unit for Infectious Diseases at the city's Gartnavel Hospital at 7.50am.

It is understood she is being transferred from Glasgow Airport on a “military-style plane” in a quarantine tent surrounded by a group of health workers in full protection suits, bound for the Royal Free Hospital in north London.

A statement on the hospital's website said: “The Royal Free London can confirm that it is expecting to receive a patient who has tested positive for Ebola.

”The patient will be treated in the high level isolation unit (HLIU).“

Health officials are tracing the 71 other people who were on the British Airways flight from London to Glasgow with the woman.

It is thought to be the first time that a case of Ebola has been diagnosed on UK soil.

PA

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