Colchester Hospital deep-cleaned over possible Ebola case

Part of a hospital was shut down as health chiefs investigated a possible case of Ebola.

A clinical area at Colchester Hospital was closed off overnight on Wednesday after a patient who had recently travelled abroad fell unwell.

After being deep-cleaned, the area reopened at 7am on Thursday, said the hospital.

It described the measures as an "infection control issue", and stressed that it had followed routine procedures.

Dr Meera Chand, director of clinical and emerging infection at the UK Health Security Agency said: “Individuals who have travelled recently and report illness are routinely assessed by NHS clinicians for a variety of infectious diseases.”

In early October, the UK Health Security Agency said it was monitoring an outbreak of Ebola in Uganda, but there were no confirmed cases in the UK at that time.

"The risk to the public in the UK is very low and there are currently no cases of the disease confirmed in the UK," the agency had previously said.

"A public health alert has been issued to urge healthcare professionals to be vigilant to the symptoms in patients who have recently returned from affected areas and to remind them of the established procedures for infection control and testing."

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