British healthcare worker with Ebola to be flown back to UK for treatment

Updated 4 Nov 2026, 17:41 · First published 4 Nov 2026

A British healthcare worker who has tested positive for Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo is being flown back to the UK for specialist treatment.

The government confirmed on Wednesday that a British citizen in the DRC had tested positive. According to an official document seen by Reuters, the patient is stable and is expected to land in the UK on Wednesday or Thursday.

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Is there any risk to the public?

The government says the risk to the UK public remains low. A Foreign Office spokesperson said the UK has established procedures for cases like this and that they have been activated. The official document says no serious public health impact is expected in Britain, and no disruption to travel or trade.

Ebola only spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of someone who is ill with it. It is not spread through the air. Imported cases are very rare: the UK Health Security Agency has recorded only four confirmed cases in Britain since 1976.

The outbreak in Congo

The current outbreak in the DRC is the second-largest on record, with more than 10,000 confirmed cases and nearly 5,000 deaths by the end of October. This is the first British national known to have caught the virus in this outbreak, though several other Europeans have been infected.

According to the World Health Organization, Ebola kills around half of the people it infects on average, but early specialist care improves the chances of survival.

Sources: Reuters via Yahoo News, LBC, Foreign Office, WHO.