ISU general secretary says staff need more information
Border, immigration and customs staff are “very concerned” about people coming to the UK with possible ebola virus infection, a leader of the Immigration Service Union (ISU) has told the BBC.
ISU general secretary Lucy Moreton said the union's members feel unprepared to cope with the threat of ebola and need more information.
“They serve on the front line; they are the first point of contact usually for people coming off an aircraft and the concern is what do they do if they're confronted with someone that doesn't appear well who appears at the border," she said on BBC Radio 4's the World Tonight programme.
"There is no health facility at the border, there is no containment facility, and until extremely recently there has been no guidance issued to staff at all as to what they should do.”
The ebola outbreak in West Africa has seen more than 1,000 cases and 650 deaths reported in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since the first case earlier this year.
It is the largest outbreak of the disease ever known. Public Health England (PHE) says the risk to the UK is very low.
The ebola virus spreads easily through direct contact with the bodily fluids or organs of infected people and animals. It causes the rare but severe disease, ebola haemorrhagic fever.
Medical practitioners in the UK have been informed about the West Africa epidemic, urged to be vigilant for unexplained illness in people who have visited affected areas and advised on what action to take, PHE says.
On July 31, speaking after a meeting of the emergency government committee COBR, foreign secretary Philip Hammond said: “We've considered what additional measures the UK could take to help control the outbreak in west Africa; and we've also looked at what measures we need to put in place on a precautionary basis in case any UK nationals in West Africa should become affected by the disease.
“We do not, at the moment, think this is an issue that affects the UK directly.”
Image courtesy of CDC/Cynthia Goldsmith
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