UK Ebola screening procedures amended as risk declines

The government is relaxing its approach to Ebola screening in the UK as the threat posed by the global outbreak gradually drops.

According to the latest risk assessment, the likelihood of further Ebola viral disease cases being imported into the UK is very low, with the risk of transmission occurring within the local community being negligible due to measures already in place.

Under the new arrangements, on-site screening teams will continue to be based at Heathrow and Gatwick airports, with Birmingham and Manchester airports and the St Pancras Eurostar terminal moving to off-site telephone screening and risk assessment arrangements.

Heathrow and Gatwick are where more than 90 percent of people from the affected countries arrive. The greatest scrutiny will be applied to healthcare workers who have been in direct contact with Ebola patients.

Professor Paul Cosford, Public Health England's director for health protection, said: "We are maintaining a high level of protection against Ebola by adapting our response to the current situation. These changes will ensure primarily safe, but also focused and efficient delivery of the screening programme."

Since the start of the Ebola outbreak, Public Health England has screened 9,785 people at the border, tested 257 people for Ebola and monitored 610 individuals who have returned from West Africa.