Britain starts Ebola screening today at Heathrow Airport-Cases are inevitable

Wonderful message .All travellers from others country to the UK at London’s Heathrow from Ebola-hit countries will be screened and monitored for the killer disease from today.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said those arriving at the airport will have their temperature taken and be asked to fill in a questionnaire about their health and possible contact with the illness.

But experts warned the screening in terminal one could lead to delays for travellers – while the health benefits of the measures were “very small”.

Mr Hunt made the screening announcement before admitting the situation will get worse before it improves.

He told MPs that a “handful of cases” would be diagnosed in this country over the next three months.

Current advice suggests there will be fewer than 10 cases of Ebola in the UK before Christmas, he said.

But he would not be drawn on an exact number when challenged to reveal the “worst case scenario” by shadow health secretary Andy Burnham.

Mr Hunt told the House of Commons there have been 4,033 confirmed deaths and 8,399 confirmed, probable and suspected cases of Ebola in seven countries, with widespread transmission confined to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. He said this number is doubling every three to four weeks and the UN has declared the outbreak an international public health emergency.

Anyone who tests positive for Ebola will be treated at the Royal Free Hospital in north London, the UK’s specialist centre for the most dangerous infectious diseases.

There are also plans to increase bed capacity for Ebola patients in Newcastle, Liverpool and Sheffield, to make a total of 26 beds available, he added. “I do believe we are amongst the best and most prepared countries in the world,” he said. “The situation will get worse before it gets better.

“But we shouldn’t flinch in our resolve to defeat Ebola, both for the safety of the British population and as part of our responsibility to some of the planet’s poorest countries.”

Screening for Ebola will be rolled out across other Heathrow terminals as well as at Gatwick and Eurostar rail terminals following advice from UK chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies.

But Dr Ron Behrens, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said the benefit of airport screening would be “very small”, while there would be disruption to “large numbers of people”.

“It appears not to be a scientific decision but a political one,” he said.