UK to provide up to £20million for Ebola outbreak after 130 dead
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said: "It is vital we act now to save lives – outbreaks like Ebola do not stop at borders, and neither can we"
Britain will provide up to £20 million to contain an outbreak of Ebola in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda suspected to have killed more than 130 people.
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The money, provided by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, will help the international effort to contain the virus through support for frontline health workers, improved infection control and disease surveillance.
Congolese authorities said they had recorded almost 600 suspected cases and 139 suspected deaths from the virus, and the World Health Organisation (WHO) suggested the outbreak could last for at least two months.
The WHO has deemed the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, but assessed the risk it will spread globally as low.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “It is vital we act now to save lives – outbreaks like Ebola do not stop at borders, and neither can we.”
Ms Cooper is expected to chair a meeting alongside new Health Secretary James Murray on Thursday to co-ordinate the UK’s response, including work to protect British nationals overseas.
Read More: Uganda to deploy Ebola vaccine in two weeks – WHO
She added: “This outbreak is a stark reminder that global health threats require a global response.
“The UK is working hand-in-hand with partners – boosting much-needed funding but also sharing our technical expertise to contain the outbreak, protect our security and support those most at risk.”
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has activated its “returning workers scheme” to monitor those travelling from the UK to the area for work, and is assessing routes that travellers use to enter the UK to ensure information on Ebola symptoms is available to those who need it.
Dr Mike Reynolds, incident director at the UKHSA, said the current outbreak was “serious” but posed a “low” risk to the UK population.
He said: “UKHSA continues to monitor and assess the situation closely and the NHS has safe procedures in place for any such cases and specialist centres where they can be looked after.”
Ebola is a rare, highly contagious and often fatal disease generally transmitted via bodily fluids.
Symptoms include a high temperature, extreme tiredness, vomiting, diarrhoea, muscle pain and bleeding.
Outbreaks of the disease occur periodically in Africa, with the most severe taking place in West Africa between 2014 and 2016 and leading to more than 11,000 deaths.
That outbreak also saw three British nationals – two nurses and an aid worker – contract the disease.
All three survived, and there have been no cases of human-to-human transmission in the UK.