British doctor infected with Ebola being treated in London hospital

Getty/Fela Sanu

By Jane Kirby, Press Association

A British doctor who tested positive for Ebola while working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has returned to the UK for specialist treatment at a London hospital, the Department of Health and Social Care has said.

The doctor is being cared for in an isolation unit at the Royal Free Hospital, according to the DHSC.

Dr Renu Bindra, deputy director of the All Hazards Public Health Response team at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said: “UKHSA and the NHS have well-established and robust infection prevention and control protocols to limit the risk of onward transmission, and the risk to the wider public remains low.”

The man was brought to the UK on a medical evacuation flight, in a joint effort between the UK and DRC governments and their international health partners.

He was thought to be working on an Ebola outbreak in DRC, central Africa, which figures published on the UN website show has led to more than 5,100 deaths.