TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A healthcare worker who is the first Briton confirmed to have tested positive for the Ebola virus was flown to London on Sunday for treatment after being evacuated from Sierra Leone on an RAF plane.
The Department of Health said he was "not currently seriously unwell" in a statement issued shortly after the C-17 aircraft took off from Freetown for RAF Northolt in west London where it landed at 9pm, as reported by The Guardian.
The man was expected to be taken to the Royal Free hospital in Hampstead, London, which has an isolation unit where he can be treated.
The man, who lives in Sierra Leone, had been volunteering at an Ebola clinic in the Kenema district in the east of the country.
The number of people infected with the deadly virus has been put at 2,615 by the World Health Organisation. The disease was identified in Guinea in March and spread to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria – 1,427 victims have died.
The decision to fly the British man home was taken on Saturday at a meeting between the medical director of the NHS, Sir Bruce Keogh, the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, and the foreign secretary, Philip Hammond. A medical assessment was carried out to see whether the patient was fit to fly.
"The patient is not currently seriously unwell and is being medically evacuated in a specially equipped C-17 Royal Air Force plane to RAF Northolt in the UK. Upon arrival in the UK, the patient will be transported to an isolation unit at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust," a statement from the Department of Health said on Sunday. Prof John Watson, the deputy chief medical officer for England, said the risk to the public remained low. "We have robust, well-developed and well-tested NHS systems for managing unusual infectious diseases when they arise, supported by a wide range of experts," he said.
"UK hospitals have a proven record of dealing with imported infectious diseases and this patient will be isolated and will receive the best care possible."
THE GUARDIAN
