Glasgow Ebola patient in stable condition, 71 others contacted as precautionary measure

A health worker who was diagnosed with Ebola after returning to Glasgow from Sierra Leone is now reported to be in stable condition after hours of isolation in a Glasgow hospital. The woman, who had been working at the Ebola Treatment Centre at Kerry Town, Sierra Leone was admitted to hospital early Monday morning after feeling feverish



Officials are also tracing 71 people who boarded the same British Airways flight from London to Glasgow with the woman.

Meanwhile, Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon has described the risk to the general public as “extremely low to the point of negligible” although precautionary measures have been taken to contact other passengers. Sturgeon stated that “Given the early stage of the diagnosis, the patient was displaying no symptoms of the kind that would lead to onward transmission and put other people at risk before she reported as being unwell.

“Passengers on both the flight from Casablanca to Heathrow and Heathrow to Glasgow are being traced and contacted. They will be given the appropriate advice and reassurance.

“Scotland has been preparing for this possibility from the beginning of the outbreak in west Africa and I am confident that we are well prepared.

“We have the robust procedures in place to identify cases rapidly. Our health service also has the expertise and facilities to ensure that confirmed Ebola cases such as this are contained and isolated, effectively minimising any potential spread of the disease.”

The patient was transferred from Glasgow Airport on a military-style plane in a quarantine tent surrounded by a group of health workers in full protection suits, to the Royal Free Hospital in London. A statement confirming this on the hospital's website read: ‘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).’