All passengers contacted in UK Ebola probe

All passengers contacted in UK Ebola probe

ALL UK-based passengers and crew aboard two flights taken by a British nurse who contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone have now been contacted by medical authorities, Public Health England (PHE) says.

PAULINE Cafferkey, a Scottish public health nurse who had been volunteering in the stricken West African country, is receiving specialist treatment at the Royal Free Hospital in north London.

She was diagnosed with the deadly virus after returning to Glasgow from Heathrow, after flying to the UK from Sierra Leone via Casablanca in Morocco.

PHE said passengers and crew on the flights to Heathrow and Glasgow on Sunday have now been contacted.

Speaking about the British Airways flight from Heathrow to Glasgow, a PHE spokeswoman said: "All 71 passengers and all crew members on this flight have been contacted as of 1st January 2015, given advice and reassurance by officials from Health Protection Scotland".

Of the Royal Air Maroc flight from Casablanca to Heathrow, she said: "All 101 UK-based passengers and all crew members on this flight have been contacted, given advice and reassurance by officials from Public Health England as of 2nd January 2015".

"The additional 31 international passengers on this flight are being contacted by international public health authorities."

The Moroccan Ministry of Health has also been tracing passengers aboard the Royal Air Maroc flight from Freetown in Sierra Leone to Casablanca as a precautionary measure. All passengers on that flight were screened before they left Freetown and cleared to travel, as well as on their arrival in Casablanca, PHE said.