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Ebola outbreak: UK sending 750 troops to Sierra Leone

Posted on October 9, 2014 at 04:24:31 PM AEST

The UK is sending 750 military personnel to Sierra Leone to help deal with the deadly Ebola outbreak, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has confirmed.

The UK will also send medical ship the RFA Argus and three helicopters. The personnel will be deployed next week.

It comes as Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said it was “now entirely possible that someone with Ebola will come to the UK either by one route or another”. 

The latest figures show 3,879 people have died in the West African epidemic.

The vast majority of deaths have been in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, where 879 have died.

There is no cure or vaccine for Ebola, which has so far infected more than 8,000 people in the worst outbreak yet.

British troops will help to establish treatment centres and a training academy, with the ship and helicopters providing support.

It comes as:

• The first patient diagnosed with Ebola in the US, Thomas Eric Duncan, has died, Texas hospital officials say
• Travellers from Ebola-affected countries will face increased security scrutiny at five major US airports
• A Spanish nurse – the first person to contract the virus outside West Africa – says she remembers touching her face after treating a dying priest
• Jeremy Hunt says the UK is taking the threat “incredibly seriously”and “we need to be prepared” 
• Downing Street says plans for protecting the UK were discussed at a Cobra meeting, although the risk remains “low”
• Public Health England repeats there are no plans to introduce screening for those arriving in the UK
• First Minister Alex Salmond says he is “confident” Scotland’s NHS is ready should there be a case there 
• A headteacher blames “misguided hysteria” for the cancellation of a visit to Stockport by a nine-year-old boy from Sierra Leone

Mr Hammond, speaking in Washington with US Secretary of State John Kerry, said military and civilian teams were already in Sierra Leone, working on constructing five new Ebola treatment facilities with 700 beds. 

He said that at a meeting of the government’s Cobra emergency committee in London – which he joined via video link – the decision was made to deploy the RFA Argus to Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital, along with the three Merlin helicopters.

It is estimated the measures will help the country treat nearly 8,800 patients over six months.

Mr Hammond said: “This disease is an unprecedented threat that knows no borders. We have to get ahead of this disease. If we get ahead of it and rise to the challenge, we can contain it and beat it.”

He said the UK had committed more than $200m (£125m) to the programme in Sierra Leone. 

And he urged other countries to commit not only money but more resources, including medical personnel, to lead the effort on the ground.

“We all have to do more if we are going to prevent what is currently a crisis from becoming a catastrophe,” he said.

Downing Street said the 750 troops included:

• 250 for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship Argus to take and support three helicopters, aircrew and engineers to provide transport support to medical teams and aid experts
• More than 200 military staff to run and staff a World Health Organization-led Ebola training facility
• 300 military personnel making up the existing UK taskforce, focusing on delivering support to the Sierra Leone government

Forty British military engineers have already travelled to the country to set up the facilities, said BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Beale.

Our correspondent said 100 troops had been due to travel to the country next week but they will now be joined by hundreds more.

“It shows Britain is clearly worried about this and is ramping up its efforts in the same way the US has done,” said our correspondent. 

The US has pledged as many as 4,000 troops to the region.

Mr Kerry said the US and UK were “standing together” to battle the virus in West Africa.

Airport screening

Ebola spreads through contact with the bodily fluids of someone who has the virus and the only way to stop an outbreak is to isolate those who are infected.

Earlier, US officials announced travellers from Ebola-affected countries will face increased security scrutiny at American airports.

The Department of Homeland Security has ordered agents at airports and other ports to take temperatures and question passengers.

Ebola virus disease (EVD)

• Symptoms include high fever, bleeding and central nervous system damage
• Spread by body fluids, such as blood and saliva
• Fatality rate can reach 90% – but current outbreak has mortality rate of about 70%
• Incubation period is two to 21 days
• There is no proven vaccine or cure
• Supportive care such as rehydrating patients who have diarrhoea and vomiting can help recovery
• Fruit bats, a delicacy for some West Africans, are considered to be virus’s natural host

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