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Africa's top health chief warns the UK could become an Ebola 'hotspot' like Covid as cases pass 10,000

An Ebola isolation tent in Nigeria, as the Swiss diplomat's wife — Nigeria's first case in the outbreak — was flown home to Switzerland with 52 contacts still under watch.
An Ebola isolation tent in Nigeria, as the Swiss diplomat's wife — Nigeria's first case in the outbreak — was flown home to Switzerland with 52 contacts still under watch.

Africa's second-largest Ebola outbreak on record has surpassed 10,000 cases and nearly 5,000 deaths across the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda, with Africa CDC director-general Dr Jean Kaseya warning that no country is safe without urgent preparation. The rare Bundibugyo strain has now spread across three African regions simultaneously — a geographic scale Kaseya calls unprecedented — and France has already confirmed one case in a returning doctor.

Kaseya drew an explicit Covid comparison: 'At the beginning of Covid, many countries said there was zero risk — a few months later, they became the hotspot.'

The UK Health Security Agency says the risk to the British public 'remains low' and that the UK is 'well-prepared' to handle any imported cases.

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