Will airport screening REALLY stop Ebola reaching Britain? Passengers will now be checked after Government U-turn as alarm grows over health scare branded the ‘next Aids’
Downing Street orders screening at Heathrow and Gatwick, and Eurostar
Came just eight hours after Defence Secretary Michael Fallon ruled it out
Department of Health insisted there were ‘no plans’ for screening
Warned it would mean quizzing ‘huge numbers of low-risk people’
By lunchtime Chancellor George Osborne revealed change of heart
‘Entirely possible’ virus will reach UK, says Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt
World Bank president says West has ‘failed miserably’ in stopping Ebola
By Matt Chorley, Political Editor and Lizzie Parry
DailyMail.com
9 October 2014
The British government tonight ordered airports to quiz passengers arriving from West Africa in an attempt to prevent Ebola entering the UK, just hours after ministers said it would do little to curb the spread of the deadly virus.
But experts today told MailOnline ‘shutting borders will not stop Ebola’, as leading experts say the key to tackling the vicious virus is ‘rooting it out’ at the source, in West Africa.
A US health chief has warned the outbreak – the largest in history since Ebola was first discovered in 1976 – could become the ‘next Aids’, unless drastic action is taken to halt the crisis.
The World Health Organisation said the death toll has reached more than 3,800 in West Africa, adding the virus has so far infected in excess of 8,000 people.
Downing Street announced ‘enhanced screening’ will be carried out at Heathrow and Gatwick, and Eurostar trains, for people arriving from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
They will be quizzed about where they have been and whether they have been in contact with anyone with the deadly virus.
Doctors could also carry out medical assessments if they are deemed to be high risk.
But the decision came after eight hours of confusion, with senior ministers including Defence Secretary Michael Fallon warning it would be ‘very hard’ to track people arriving in the UK from affected countries.
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