‘Ebola a potential threat to Britain’

London:The fatal Ebola virus, which has killed hundreds of people since February, could be a threat to Britain, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said.

The disease has killed more than 700 people in West Africa, news agencies reported.

According to Hammond, no Britons have been affected so far and the government has been viewing the outbreak very seriously.

“In terms of the UK, the issue is about the possibility of somebody who has contracted the disease in Africa getting sick here.”

“It is not about the disease spreading in the UK because we have frankly different standards of infection control procedure that would make that most unlikely,” Hammond said.

Public Health England (PHE) has already issued an alert to British doctors to be aware of Ebola symptoms.

Fears of global outbreak were raised last week, after a man showing signs of Ebola left Liberia on a flight to Lagos, where he later died.

Meanwhile, the International Civil Aviation Organisation said it is considering passenger screenings for ebola, now that the virus for the first time has crossed international borders aboard an aircraft.

The world aviation authority said it held emergency talks with officials from the World Health Organization and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to discuss the proposed changes. “The WHO, ICAO considered passenger screening revisions to the WHO document on travel and transport in light of recent events,” said an ICAO statement.