By Fatma Younis
A British man being treated for Ebola in Congo is being evacuated to the UK, the government announced Thursday. The patient, believed to be a healthcare worker, is the first British national evacuated from the current outbreak and the third person to test positive for the virus to return to Europe.
He is expected to be taken to the Royal Free Hospital in London, which has a high-level isolation unit used during the 2014-2015 West Africa Ebola outbreak. The Foreign Office said UK infectious disease procedures have been activated and the risk to the public is low.
The outbreak in Congo has infected 10,600 people, killing more than 5,100, and spread to 67 health zones across eight provinces since May. France and Switzerland have also recorded cases linked to the outbreak.
Dr. Damien Tully, an infectious disease expert at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said the infection of a British healthcare worker is concerning but not unexpected given frontline conditions.
