A Briton who contracted the Ebola virus in Sierra Leone is being flown back to the UK on a RAF jet, the UK Department for Health has said.

The patient, who is a healthcare worker, is to be flown to RAF Northolt and will then transported to an isolation unit at the Royal Free Hospital in north London.

The Briton is “not currently seriously unwell”, a spokesman said.

Health chiefs say the risk to the UK from the virus remains “very low”.

The Department for Health said the patient was being “medically evacuated” in a specially equipped C17 RAF aircraft following “clinical advice”.

It is the first confirmed case of a Briton contracting the deadly virus, for which there is no cure, during the latest outbreak.

The virus – one of the world’s deadliest diseases – is spread between humans through direct contact with infected bloodily fluids.

So far 1,427 people in West Africa have died – more than in any other Ebola outbreak.

SOURCE . BBC world News