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Ebola screening to be extended to Manchester and Birmingham airports Ebola screening to be extended to Manchester and Birmingham airports
(about 1 hour later)
Ebola screening for travellers arriving in Britain from affected areas in west Africa is to be extended to Manchester and Birmingham airports, the head of Public Health England has said.Ebola screening for travellers arriving in Britain from affected areas in west Africa is to be extended to Manchester and Birmingham airports, the head of Public Health England has said.
In his weekly message to staff, Duncan Selbie said that once the existing measures covering Heathrow, Gatwick and the Eurostar terminal at St Pancras had “settled” they would be rolled out to other ports of entry. In his weekly message to staff, Duncan Selbie said: “Next week the focus will be on Gatwick and St Pancras and, once settled there, we will then move to include Manchester and Birmingham.
“Next week the focus will be on Gatwick and St Pancras and, once settled there, we will then move to include Manchester and Birmingham,” he said.
“I appreciate very much that we are taking people away from their normal work, and please be assured that we are thinking hard and listening carefully to those on the ground to see how we can make this more sustainable.“I appreciate very much that we are taking people away from their normal work, and please be assured that we are thinking hard and listening carefully to those on the ground to see how we can make this more sustainable.
“What I am certain of is that we have the people who know how to keep the country safe and that is exactly what we will do.”“What I am certain of is that we have the people who know how to keep the country safe and that is exactly what we will do.”
Following a meeting on Thursday of the government’s Cobra crisis response committee, Downing Street said the chief medical officer, Dame Sally Davies, still regarded the risk to the UK as “low”.
However David Cameron, who chaired the meeting, expressed concern about the quality of checks in place elsewhere in Europe.
The prime minister said he would like to see other countries adopt Britain’s screening regime, warning they must do more to halt the spread of the disease.
Conservative MP Sir Roger Gale has called for the screening regime to be extended to ferry passengers arriving at Dover.
He also urged the home secretary, Theresa May, to open negotiations with the French authorities with a view to screening migrants from west Africa in the camps in Calais who are seeking to gain entry to the UK illegally.
“We have to try to take every practical precaution to both prevent the disease from entering the UK and to identify, isolate and treat possible patients,” Gale said.
“What is as dangerous is a possible outbreak of Ebola among those hundreds of potential illegal immigrants clustered under poor conditions in Calais.
“They, by their nature, cannot be subject to any pre-embarkation screening but in the interests of humanity we need to work with the French authorities to try to limit the prospects of an outbreak within that itinerant community.”
While there are no direct flights to the UK from the three worst affected countries – Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea – Downing Street said passengers arriving via another destination on a single ticket were being required to undergo screening.
However the prime minister’s official spokesman declined to say whether anyone who refused would be denied entry to the UK.
“There is extensive public health legislation which enables the public authorities in certain cases to take action to ensure that people undergo medical surveillance,” the spokesman said.
“If there was a situation that arose and, as a result, we received advice that more was needed in terms of powers, we would take them.”