British Ebola patient evacuated from Congo to London

Authorities said on November 5 that a British national undergoing Ebola care in Congo would be brought to the UK. The patient, thought to work in healthcare, is the first person from Britain evacuated in the current outbreak and the third person with Ebola to return to Europe during it. His destination is London's Royal Free Hospital, whose isolation unit was used to treat Ebola patients during the 2014-15 West Africa outbreak.

The Foreign Office said the UK’s infectious-disease procedures had been activated and assessed the risk to the public as low. The outbreak has infected 10,600 people in Congo, with more than 5,100 deaths. It has reached 67 health zones in eight provinces, compared with three zones when it was declared in May.

A doctor who returned to France from a humanitarian mission in Congo tested positive in June and has recovered. Last month, a Swiss woman thought to have contracted Ebola in Uganda was flown to Geneva for treatment; her husband, a diplomat, was isolated in Zurich.

Damien Tully, who specializes in infectious diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said healthcare workers face exposure while caring for very ill patients in difficult conditions. He said accidental exposure can happen despite strict protective measures.