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| Heathrow Ebola screening from Tuesday | Heathrow Ebola screening from Tuesday |
| (34 minutes later) | |
| Ebola screening will begin at London's Heathrow Airport on Tuesday, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt says. | Ebola screening will begin at London's Heathrow Airport on Tuesday, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt says. |
| Passengers from at-risk countries will have their temperature taken, complete a risk questionnaire and have contact details recorded. | Passengers from at-risk countries will have their temperature taken, complete a risk questionnaire and have contact details recorded. |
| Mr Hunt said screening at Gatwick and Eurostar terminals would start in the coming week. | Mr Hunt said screening at Gatwick and Eurostar terminals would start in the coming week. |
| The Chief Medical Officer says the risk to the UK is low, but has predicted a "handful" of cases. | |
| Mr Hunt said it was "genuinely very difficult" to predict an exact number of cases, but said the expected figure was not in double figures for the next three months. | |
| The government had been arguing against screening last week, but there was a sudden change in policy. | |
| Mr Hunt said the medical advice had changed and the UK was preparing for the situation deteriorating in West Africa. | |
| He said: "[The chief medical officer] confirms that the public health risk in the UK remains low and measures currently in place, including exit screening in all three affected countries, offer the correct level of protection. | |
| "However whilst the response to global health emergencies should always be proportionate, she also advises the Government to make preparations for a possible increase in the risk level." | |
| Entry screening | |
| Screening at Heathrow Terminal 1 will begin on Tuesday. The Department of Health estimates that 85% of all arrivals to the UK from affected countries will come through Heathrow. | |
| Border Force officers will identify passengers to be screened and Public Health England will carry out the testing. | |
| However, there is no direct flight from Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea so people could arrive at airports that do not screen passengers. | |
| "Highly visible information" will be in place at all entry points to the UK. | |
| Mr Hunt said tacking the outbreak in Africa was the "single most important way" of preventing Ebola arriving in the UK. | |
| "We should remember that the international community has shown that if we act decisively we can defeat serious new infectious disease threats such as Sars and pandemic flu. | |
| "The situation will get worse before it gets better, but we should not flinch in our resolve to defeat Ebola both for the safety of the British population and as part of our responsibility to some of the poorest countries on the planet." |