The government needs to “ramp up” mechanisms to keep Brits safe from the deadly Ebola outbreak as an infected patient “could be on a plane to the UK”, a security expert has warned.
The outbreak – which has centred on the Democratic Republic of Congo and resulted in 750 suspected cases and 177 deaths – was declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organisation.
Security expert Professor Anthony Glees warned the UK faced a threat of travellers from the affected areas entering the country. He said: “It is not hard to see that someone infected might be coming to the UK on a plane right now.”
“It follows that the threat to the UK from Ebola comes from two areas: Brits travelling for work reasons to the affected areas and travellers from the affected areas coming to the UK. It is the latter area that I think needs to be watched very carefully.
“We must hope that the UKHSA is screening anyone entering the UK from the DRC and Uganda, whether via an international flight or via a small boat. We don’t believe they are and if not, it is high time they got moving.
“All the Government seems to be doing right now is ‘assessing the routes’ used by those coming to the UK. I’m not sure that is enough. In an era of easy travel to and from Africa we need to be very mindful of the risks.”
Prof Glees warned the UK needs to learn the lessons from the mistakes made during Covid by then-PM Boris Johnson, who “took far too long to take the threat to the UK seriously”, adding: “We must never, ever repeat the mistakes made by his Government.”
Scientists at Oxford University are working to develop a new vaccine that could be ready for clinical trials within two to three months to help tackle the emergency.
The rare species of Ebola, known as Bundibugyo, for which there is no proven vaccine, kills around a third of those infected. Scientists say they are working urgently in case the outbreak spirals and their experimental vaccine is needed.
The UK Health Security Agency currently say the outbreak poses a low to this country. But Prof Glees said: In order to ensure the risk remains ‘low’, the UK Government needs to ramp up its security mechanisms to keep us safe.
“We do not want another Covid epidemic and we need to make sure we’re springing into action to fight Ebola. We are not helped, of course, by Trump’s and RFK’s foolish, vicious and highly dangerous cuts to the WHO’s ability to contain the virus.
“Any Ebola cases in the USA during the run-up to the World Cup would be a disaster, most of all for Trump’s MAGA USA.”
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