British doctor infected with Ebola is evacuated from Congo to a London hospital

A British doctor who tested positive for Ebola while working on the response to the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been evacuated to the United Kingdom and is receiving treatment in a high-security isolation unit in London, the British government confirmed on Thursday.

The health worker, whose identity has not been disclosed, arrived on Thursday at the RAF Northolt military airfield on a medical evacuation flight arranged by the governments of the United Kingdom and Congo together with international health partners, and was taken by ambulance to the Royal Free Hospital in north London.

It is the first confirmed case of a British citizen infected during the current outbreak, declared by the Congolese Health Ministry on May 15, 2026, which the BBC says has already caused more than 5,000 deaths. The doctor had been sent to the country by a humanitarian organization to support the health response.

Dr. Renu Bindra, of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said the health service and the agency have established infection-control protocols and that the risk to the general public remains low. The Royal Free Hospital previously treated three health workers evacuated during the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014 and 2015.

Photo: BBC

Source: Reuters