UK Worker Flown Home Over Ebola Fears
Last update: July 22, 2026
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No symptoms, no panic but maximum precaution. A UK humanitarian worker has been medically evacuated from DR Congo to London after a potential exposure to Ebola.
A UK humanitarian worker who may have been exposed to Ebola while working in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been flown back to the UK as a precaution, cbinews.tv report.
According to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), the individual, a UK resident who has not been namedis showing no symptoms at all and is said to be well. The evacuation, they stress, is purely precautionary.
The worker is now being assessed and monitored at a London hospital. While the hospital has not been officially named, the Royal Free in north London houses the UK's specialist high-level isolation unit and is the national centre for high consequence infectious diseases.
As cbinews.tv understands, the worker will have to isolate throughout the incubation period, which for Ebola ranges from two to 21 days.
The individual had been working with a humanitarian organisation supporting the Ebola outbreak response on the ground in DR Congo.
And let us be clear, Ebola is not like flu or Covid. It is a highly dangerous pathogen, but it is NOT airborne. It spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids.
Symptoms usually come on suddenly and at first look a lot like flu or malaria - fever, headache and extreme tiredness. As it progresses, vomiting and diarrhoea develop and it can lead to organ failure. Some, but not all, patients develop internal and external bleeding.
Speaking, Richard Pebody, director of epidemic and emerging infections at UKHSA, said: "The risk to the general public remains low. This individual has been transferred out of an abundance of caution, and we're pleased they remain well."
The UKHSA confirmed there are currently no confirmed cases of Ebola in the UK.
It is worth remembering, there were three confirmed cases in the UK between 2014 and 2015 all healthcare workers returning from West Africa. All recovered and there was no onward transmission.
According to the World Health Organization, as of 19 July, the DR Congo government has recorded 2,423 confirmed cases, including 967 deaths, since the outbreak was declared in mid-May. The WHO says 469 people have recovered.
Uganda has recorded another 20 confirmed cases and two deaths.
The latest outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo species of Ebola, for which there is no vaccine, although several are in development. WHO head Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has described it as the third-worst outbreak on record.
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