On Monday, the government of Scotland announced the nation's first ever Ebola case after a health worker in Glasgow was confirmed to have acquired the deadly virus. The patient has just returned to Scotland from Sierra Leone, one of the West African countries struck by the outbreak.
The Scottish government said on its official Web site that the patient, who is the first Ebola case of the country, is a healthcare worker who was helping to fight the spreading of the disease in West Africa. Time reported that late Sunday night, the female aid worker arrived in Glasgow Airport via a British Airways flight. She have traveled from Sierra Leone to Casablanca and London before reaching Scotland.
According to the government of Scotland the infectious-disease procedures have been put into effect. And the nation's first Ebola case has been isolated and is being treated on the Gartnavel Hospital campus in Glasgow, USA Today reported.
The patient has not been identified by the Scottish authorities either by name or nationality. But a spokesperson for Save the Children said the patient is a female nurse who worked at the organization's Ebola hospital in Kerry Town, near the capital of Freetown. The Independent reported the charity believed the patient flew to Sierra Leone on Nov. 23.
All possible contacts with the Ebola case are now being investigated that includes the flights to Scotland via London's Heathrow. BBC News said UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt confirmed the patient will be transferred to the high-level isolation unit in the Royal Free Hospital in north London as soon as possible.
Hunt also added that Scotland is doing everything it needs to be done to keep the United Kingdom safe. He also stressed that processes for treating Ebola have been reevaluated and reassessed.
"We are also reviewing our procedures and protocols for all the other NHS workers who are working at the moment in Sierra Leone," Hunt said.
Meanwhile, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon of Scotland said the patient is UK's first Ebola case ever diagnosed. She also said the risk to the public is extremely low and pre-planned steps would be taken to ensure the public's safety.
"Scotland has been preparing for this possibility from the beginning of the outbreak in West Africa, and I am confident that we are well-prepared," Sturgeon said, before adding that the patient is "stable."
Since the Ebola outbreak started in December 2013 in West Africa, WHO has recorded a total of 19,497 cases in eight nations mainly Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. There were also 7,588 reported deaths.
Over a thousand British health service staff have volunteered to combat the Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone with the first group of doctors and nurses flying out last month. They are supporting military personnel who have built clinics to treat disease victims.
In the meantime, the patient, who is the first ever confirmed case, had only had contact with one other person in Scotland and has been already closely monitored. The patient became ill Monday morning and contacted health officials, CNN reported she was then placed in isolation at 7:50 a.m. that same day.
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