A British healthcare worker who tested positive for Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is being evacuated to the United Kingdom for medical treatment, the UK government confirmed on Wednesday.
"A British citizen currently in the DR Congo has tested positive for Ebola," a government spokesperson said in a statement, noting that the case has prompted activation of established response procedures.
The patient is in a stable condition and will be transferred to a specialist 'high consequence' infectious disease unit for clinical care, the statement said. Such units are designated to manage severe infectious diseases and provide a higher level of infection-control treatment.
The government added that "The UK has well-established procedures for dealing with cases like this, and those processes have been activated … The risk to the UK public from Ebola remains low." Authorities said those procedures are being used to manage the evacuation, transfer and clinical care of the patient.
Officials did not provide further operational details in the statement. Public health authorities in the UK and abroad typically coordinate on repatriation and containment measures in such cases, and the government reaffirmed that the overall risk to the public is considered low.