Glasgow Hospital Tests Patient for Suspected Ebola Virus After Arrival at Acute Receiving Unit

A suspected Ebola case prompted testing at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, with the patient understood to have arrived at the hospital’s acute receiving unit in the early hours of Tuesday.

“A patient is being tested for suspected Ebola virus at a Glasgow hospital, according to local media”

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Public Health Scotland said there are currently no confirmed cases of Ebola in Scotland and that the risk to the general public remains low, while the NHS has safe procedures in place for detecting and managing any such cases.

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By late on Tuesday night, it emerged the patient was not infected, and the ward was said to have been partially closed due to the suspected case.

The BBC reported that if confirmed it would be the first Ebola case the UK has seen during the current DRC outbreak, and the outbreak has been declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Public Health Scotland said it was working closely with UKHSA to assess routes by which travellers may enter the UK from affected countries, and that where required, contact tracing would occur and contacts may undergo clinical assessment and precautionary testing.

A Public Health Scotland spokesperson told the BBC: "There are currently no confirmed cases of Ebola in Scotland and the risk to the general public remains low."

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The UKHSA Returning Workers Scheme (RWS) was described as having been activated, with the spokesperson adding that organisations deploying workers to affected areas should register those workers with the scheme.

The Independent also quoted the same risk framing from Public Health Scotland, saying "Public Health Scotland is working closely with UKHSA" to assess routes for travellers entering the UK from affected countries.

The sources tie the Glasgow testing to a wider Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo, with Sky News saying outbreaks have been recorded in both the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and neighbouring Uganda.

Sky News reported that there have been almost 700 confirmed cases of bundibugyo Ebola virus, with some 138 people having died, including two in Uganda, and it also noted one case has been discovered in France.

The Independent said the UK has committed up to £21m to support the local response in DRC, helping to protect frontline workers and vulnerable communities.

The Independent quoted Dr Edmund Newman, director of the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team at UKHSA, saying: "This deployment will help strengthen the existing response to the Ebola outbreak in the DRC and across the region".