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Deadly Ebola outbreak could reach the UK unless every country steps up preparations, Africa's top disease official warns

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.

Dr Jean Kaseya, director general of the Africa CDC, has warned that the Ebola outbreak has surpassed 10,000 cases and nearly 5,000 deaths across four African countries, driven by the Bundibugyo strain for which there is no vaccine or specific treatment. He compared the risk to Covid-19, warning that countries which assumed they were safe at the start of that pandemic later became hotspots. Nigeria evacuated its only confirmed patient, a 42-year-old Swiss citizen, to Switzerland after her condition deteriorated to multi-organ failure before stabilising.

The outbreak began in mid-May in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where over 4,600 deaths have been recorded, making it the country's largest and deadliest on record.

France is so far the only country outside Africa with a confirmed case, after a doctor returned from DR Congo in June.

Nigerian authorities tracked 53 contacts of the evacuated patient, who had travelled through Uganda before arriving in Abuja on October 3 — with her diagnosis confirmed on October 20.

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