UK national tests positive for Ebola virus in DR Congo

A British national who is in the Democratic Republic of Congo has tested positive for Ebola, the UK government has confirmed. A spokesperson said the UK "has well-established procedures for dealing with cases like this" and that the risk to the public remains low.

It is the first confirmed case of a UK national contracting Ebola during the most recent outbreak of the rare but deadly virus in DR Congo, which has so far led to more than 5,000 deaths. Reuters news agency reported the most recent patient is a healthcare worker and would be brought to the UK, citing an internal document BBC News has not seen.

A UK government spokesperson said: "The UK has well-established procedures for dealing with cases like this, and those processes have been activated. There have only been four confirmed cases of the virus in the UK - one, in 1976, resulting from a laboratory incident, and three involving health workers who were responding to an outbreak in West Africa between 2014 and 2015.