Ebola latest: Ebola nurse released seven days before quarantine end
Welcome to our rolling coverage of the Ebola crisis. Refresh for updates on the outbreak as they happen.
1140: The nurse in Maine who threatened to sue the government unless they agreed to release her from quarantine has said she hopes her rebellion will benefit other healthcare workers.
Talking to the Maine Sunday Telegram, Kaci Hickox revealed that after state health officials met her in court, a judge sided with her, ruling that so long as she continues to monitor her health she is free to move wherever he likes and does not need to be held in quarantine.
"I hope in six months aid workers returning back can be unnoticed. They won’t be in the media like I was, I hope. And they can walk into a grocery store and maybe no one even knows they were working in a country with Ebola, but one day I hope everyone can know and still smile at them in the grocery store. I know that won’t happen today,” she said.
Though Hickox has fared criticism for not considering the best interests of the public when she refused to stay in her home until the 21-day incubation period has ended (this would have been 10 November), Hickox has stood by her decision.
“I didn’t mean to bring this media storm on to this community, either, but I think unfortunately sometimes, especially when up against governors, you don’t always have an option. I don’t feel like I was given an option.”
- - 3 November - -
1412: Eighty-two percent of New Yorkers support a 21-day quarantine for anyone who's been in contact with Ebola, according to a poll carried out by the Wall Street Journal, NBC 4 New York, and Marist College.
1340: Russia has warned its citizens not to travel overseas for fear of contracting Ebola, according to the Washington Post.
Head of the country's main health agency Anna Popova said: “These holidays would be better spent in Russia. Given the unstable situation in the world for infectious diseases, it is recommended to reduce all possible travel and vacation abroad.”
1222: The boyfriend of Kaci Hickox, the nurse from Maine taking on the US government that tried to force her to remain inside on quarantine, has decided to speak out.
Ted Wilbur told CNN affiliate WCHS: "This thing doesn't just affect Kaci and when people are going to be coming home from different parts of the world and West Africa, it's just not affecting the aid workers and what not. It's affecting their partners. We're not trying to push any limits."
Hickox and Wilbur left their home where Hickox was being quarantined on thursday to go on a bike ride, breaching US regulations. They were followed by police and journalists, who recorded the event but were unable to intervene.
"If anyone in the community might have noticed, we went bicycling that way. We did not go into town," he also said.
1024: For the first time ever, China has formally pleaded with Ebola-effected African countries not to attend an upcoming event the Asian nation is hosting. As 2014 KPCS Chair, China hosts the forthcoming KP Plenary and, as such, has asked Africa to "understand our difficulty as the host of the meeting and actively consider not participating".
In a letter on Wednesday, the KPCS Chair's office wrote: "As the host, China is making its all efforts to make the preparation for more than 300 International representatives. Currently, Ebola virus disease outbreak is rampantly continuing in West Africa and has transmitted to the region other than Africa, causing great concern to the international community. Many representatives have expressed to us their concern that whether there will be delegates from your country and expect us to do the prevention and control work to ensure the health and safety of all representatives."
"As a good brother, a good friend and a good partner of Africa, China has been making great efforts to assist African countries in response to the disease, and in the first time has provided three patches of emergency supplies, remittance and food aids. Meanwhile, holding a successful, safe and fruitful meeting is also due diligent responsibilities of China as the Chair for 2014. China has the obligation to convey to your and your friends the concerns and worries of other representatives. We hope you could fully understand our difficulty as the host of the meeting and actively consider not participating.
"To ensure the participation of your country, China welcomes the delegates from your embassy in China to attend the meeting. We would send a formal invitation to the Embassy in that case. Meanwhile, we will arrange audio and video communications in the Plenary Meeting. You'll be invited to join in the meeting in video conference way. Please also arrange a technical access from your country," says the letter from the KPCS Chair's office.
1008: President of Liberia Ellen Johnson criticises international focus on Ebola, the New York Times reports.
She said: “Right now, all the international attention is on Ebola. If we don’t focus on our economy, we will not be able to sustain it when they are gone.”
1001:
Dr Kelley: New WHO personal protective equipment guidelines provide more options for achieving the maximum protection possible. #Ebola
— WHO (@WHO) October 31, 2014
0956:
Dr Kelley: Experts agreed on the importance of having personal protective equipment that protects the mouth, nose & eyes from fluids #Ebola
— WHO (@WHO) October 31, 2014
0942:
Dr Kelley: Proper training in use of personal protective equipment is fundamental, the updated WHO guidelines note. #Ebola
— WHO (@WHO) October 31, 2014
0935:
Dr Edward Kelley, Director, Service Delivery & Safety, briefs the press about WHO guidelines on personal protective equipment #Ebola
— WHO (@WHO) October 31, 2014
0920:
Cuban health care workers receive training at a WHO-supported #Ebola Treatment Unit training Centre in #Liberia pic.twitter.com/PfPC9NXYCx
— WHO (@WHO) October 30, 2014
0906: USA Today has reported that the US military is training its hospitals to treat soldiers who may come into contact with the virus when deployed in West Africa.
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in North America recently conducted preparation exercises but it is now known how many others have undergone training already.
- - 31 October - -
1450: North Korea has decided to tackle Ebola with stern regulations. The country will quarantine all foreign nationals entering the country for 21 says to rule out any potential outbreak.
While individuals visiting from affected locations will be held in specific locations, those from non-affected countries will be held in hotels and North Korean diplomats, etc will be able to stay in their individual residences.
1320: The Maine nurse that threatened to disregard quarantine rules and take legal action against the US government has breached regulations and left her home.
She exited her house to go for a bike ride with her boyfriend, against quarantine guidelines.
Kaci Hickox & boyfriend are going for a bike ride. Just left the house. @WLBZ2 pic.twitter.com/uPANX4RwAt
— Kaitlyn Chana (@KaitlynChana) October 30, 2014
Kaci Hickox has defied quarantine after giving a public warning Wednesday night that she would do so.
The nurse has tested negative for Ebola multiple times but is being held due to new state policy regarding Ebola safety.
1205: The UN has just announced that Sierra Leone is in dire need of international aid.
#EbolaResponse: More health workers, equipment, beds needed - latest from #SierraLeone http://t.co/QBWYetzvfq pic.twitter.com/AjwIUx04wQ
— United Nations (@UN) October 30, 2014
1015: A nurse in Maine has given politicians an ultimatum, claiming that she refuses to be bullied.
Kaci Hickox has demanded that she be released from quarantine by Thursday or she will take her case to court.
She told NBC: "I truly believe this policy is not scientifically nor constitutionally just, and so I am not going to sit around and be bullied around by politicians and be forced to stay in my home when I am not a risk to the American public."
0857: The CDC has tweeted a new Ebola-related message about people confusing the rare infection with the seasonal flu.
#Flu and Ebola have some similar symptoms, but flu is common, Ebola is very rare. http://t.co/QTmauZZdUF #getafluvax
— CDC (@CDCgov) October 29, 2014
0848: 50 volunteers have returned safely from the Ebola hot zone in West Africa, aid agencies have reportedly told NBC News.
Of the 150 workers, from groups such as Doctors Without Borders and International Medical Corps, 47 are now home and symptom-free.
US president Barack Obama addressed the volunteered from the White House on Wednesday. He said: "The world needs you more than ever."
“We (have) got hundreds of Americans from across the country... who are putting themselves on the front line of this fight."
“When they come home, they deserve to be treated properly. They deserve to be treated like the heroes they are.”
0811: WHO has released a statement claiming that the Ebola outbreak is now showing signs of containment in Liberia.
According to WHO assistant director General Bruce Aylward, rates of burial and new admissions have fallen and there has been a plateau in laboratory-confirmed cases.
"All the data points in the same direction. Do we feel confident that the response is now getting an upper hand on the virus? Yes, we are seeing slowing rate of new cases, very definitely."
"We're seeing a reversal of that rapid rate of increase to the point that there seems to be a decline right now."
- - 30 October - -
1700: The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended voluntary home quarantine for people at the highest risk for Ebola infection.
CDC director Dr. Thomas Frieden said high risk individuals would include healthcare workers who tend to a patient without protective gear or suffer a needle stick while caring for a patient infected by Ebola.
1545: Thefive-year-old kid in New York tests came negative for Ebola, but he will remain in isolation until all tests return.
1425: Kaci Hickox, the nurse threatening to sue the state of New Jersey for her "inhumane" lodgings while forced to stay in quarantine, will be released from a Newark hospital on Monday, governor Chris Christie has announced.
13:58: London economic research consultancy Capital Economics has projected that "the global economic and market impact is likely to be limited".
The company said: "The West African economies at the centre of the crisis are much smaller and also less internationalised than those impacted by SARS. The responses of governments and others elsewhere should also minimise the wider fallout."
The SARS crisis not only reduced East Asian regional GDP by around 2% in the second quarter of 2003, but its impact was felt more widely, partly because there was a lot more travel between the worst-affected countries and other.
"The greater concern now is therefore the potential spread of the virus, starting with other, larger regional economies and commodity producers – such as Cote D’Ivoire (cocoa) and Ghana (oil, industrial minerals and precious metals)."
However, Ebola is diffcult to catch, Capital Economics argued, and mortality rates appear to be lower than in previous outbreaks so it has been "business as usual" for most markets.
"Admittedly, fears over Ebola have been added to a long list of concerns weighing on global equities and on bond yields. But the key point is that they have ranked well below other, more tangible threats, notably worries over the economies of the euro-zone and China and the outlook for monetary policy in the US. Unless the Ebola crisis takes a major turn for the worse, sentiment on these other factors should continue to set the tone."
1331: A new test can diagnose Ebola in 30 minutes, the BBC has reported.
A team of researchers, led by Harvard University affiliate Jim Collins, developed the test. It uses blotting paper to confirm the infection within half-an-hour. According to the BBC, Collins group developed the prototype in 12 hours with just $20 worth of items.
1313: A five-year-old boy has been tested for Ebola in New York.
The child was reportedly vomiting and had a 103-degree temperature before he was taken to New York’s Bellevue Hospital. Workers wearing protective hazmat suits carried him from his Bronx home on Sunday, a day after coming back from a trip to Guinea.
Five members of his family are being kept in quarantine inside their apartment. READ MORE.
0649: New York governor Andrew Cuomo has decided to back down on strict Ebola regulations he put in place on Friday. Instead, Cuomo announced at a conference with NYC mayor Bill de Blasio on Sunday, healthcare workers will be quarantined at home, not in a government building or otherwise regulated facility.
Cuomo also tweeted a fact sheet on airport regulation for the city during the Ebola threat.
New York State Releases Fact Sheet on State Screening Protocols for Ebola at JFK International Airport: http://t.co/qhBHDOr7IH
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) October 27, 2014
0632: A nurse, Kaci Hickox, has told CNN she intends to sue the state of New Jersey for holding her in "inhumane" and "prison"-like conditions during mandatory Ebola quarantine.
Hickox claims she tested negative for the infection twice and had no symptoms, yet she was forced to reside in a tent without a shower or flushing toilet.
She said in an email to the New York Post: “I am sure that we, as the United States, can come up with a fair and just policy for returning aid workers from Ebola-affected areas."
“But the policy enacted on me was no such policy. We must fix this now in order to ensure aid workers are protected so that this battle against Ebola in West Africa is won.”
0615: New York state governor Andrew Cuomo has come out in defence of his strict Ebola screening protocol.
"My practice has always been to err on the side of caution, hope for best, prepare for worst." #Ebola pic.twitter.com/QPVotaMuV0
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) October 27, 2014
0406: US President Barack Obama's weekly address focussed heavily on Ebola.
"The best way to stop this disease...is to stop it at its source in West Africa." —President Obama on #Ebola: http://t.co/TeRHtxNr8B
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) October 26, 2014
2109: According to The New York Times the White House is pressing New York and New Jersey to reverse stricter screening and quarantine restrictions for Ebola which were put in place last Friday.
1437: Samantha Power, a US envoy to the UN shared her criticisms with NBC News en route to Guinea. "The international response to Ebola needs to be taken to a wholly different scale tan it is right now," she claimed.
Adding that many countries "are signing on to resolutions and praising the good work that the Unites States and the United Kingdom and others are doing, but they themselves haven't taken the responsibility yet to send docs, to send beds, to send the reasonable amount of money".
- - 26 October - -
1459: New Yorkers have been bombarded with information and updates on the first case of Ebola recorded in the city. Craig Spencer recently returned from West Africa where he had been caring for Ebola patients. He visited several public areas before contacting authorities with what he suspected to be Ebola symptoms. It is not yet known whether he had started to show symptoms before he contacted those authorities.
In NYC the streets are paved with news. #ebola #crownheights @BrooklynEbola pic.twitter.com/Q1YDk7MHr7
— Dan Milanocent (@DailyDanMilano) October 24, 2014
1443: Photographs of NYPD disposing of hazmat suits and gloves in public bins on city streets have surfaced online.
Nothing to see here,(as we dump our #Ebloa masks/gloves curbside) move along! #NYCEbola pic.twitter.com/qMIKOuuEZY
— Redhead Patriot (@MrsNezbitt) October 24, 2014
1426: These cards have been distributed to the neighbours of Dr Spencer, who tested positive for Ebola in New York City on Thursday.
"@evanengel: Card given to Craig Spencer's neighbors pic.twitter.com/OXQH1vf6wP" #NYC #Ebola patient
— Nicola_A_Menzie (@namenzie) October 24, 2014
1415: WHO adds further comments on proposed mass vaccine distribution for early next year.
Dr Kieny: Candidate #Ebola vaccines currently have to be kept in -80 degrees Celsius temperature using a special refrigerator
— WHO (@WHO) October 24, 2014
Dr Kieny on mass #Ebola vax: No plan before June 2015. Also only if the vax is deemed safe, if epi curve justified & if enough vax available
— WHO (@WHO) October 24, 2014
1404: WHO has announced "several hundred thousand" vaccines could be produced in the first-half of next year and one million by the year's end.
Dr Kieny: By the end of the first half of 2015, a few hundred thousand doses of candidate #Ebola vaccine will be available for use
— WHO (@WHO) October 24, 2014
1351: New York City's health commissioner Mary Bassett said that Spencer's fiancee and two friends had been quarantined but showed no symptoms, according to the Associated Press.
1347: UK prime minister David Cameron at the EU conference discussing Ebola this week.
PM #Cameron: Le RU a obtenu un engagement de €1Mrd. de la part des pays de l'#UE pr renforcer la lutte contre #Ebola pic.twitter.com/F6FM2XcKwU
— UK in France (@UKinFrance) October 24, 2014
1335: The World Health Organisation has reportedly not yet decided which Ebola vaccine will be tested yet. Acting as a backdrop, The Associated Press reports that Dr.Spencer's - the US physician that was diagnosed with the virus overnight - fiancee and two friends had been quarantined. That bit of news has again sent shares of Ebola-related companies such as Lakeland Industries and Alpha Pro Tech sharply higher.
1329: The president of the European Council announced an update on Ebola this morning.
EU will increase financial help to 1 billion € to fight #Ebola in West-Africa #EUCO
— Herman Van Rompuy (@euHvR) October 24, 2014
1324: safaribookings.com has created a helpful map to illustrate how far the Ebola outbreak has spread.
Why knowing Africa's geography matters for how the world travels http://t.co/qxb1Kw2uAU pic.twitter.com/EiWpzI0lM2 #Ebola MT @william_price
— Meruschka (@MzansiGirl) October 24, 2014
1315: The CDC is working to diffuse fallacies that have developed surrounding Ebola.
#Ebola is spread by direct contact w/ body fluids of a sick person or exposure to contaminated objects, like needles. pic.twitter.com/tsSjZ8g8nb
— CDC (@CDCgov) October 24, 2014
1302: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told NBC's Today Show that Dr Craig Spencer, who has officially tested positive for Ebola, "obviously felt he wasn't symptomatic" when he went out "in a limited way". Spencer is currently being cared for in Bellevue Hospital, New York. There has been a public backlash about whether Spencer behaved responsibly upon returning from West Africa where he was treating Ebola patients.
0921: Mali confirmed its first case of Ebola. A 2-year-old girl was diagnosed with the infection, making her the West African country's first confirmed case. She was brought from neighbouring Guinea, according to the World Health Organization. Her father died from the disease and she was brought to the hospital when Ebola symptoms developed. A test confirmed her infection.
Mali’s Health Minister Ousmane Kone has said the condition of the girl is “improving thanks to her rapid treatment”.
0900: Craig Spencer, a New York-based doctor who has recently been working in Guinea, has become the fourth person in the US to have been diagnosed with the deadly virus. Spencer reportedly came down with a fever on Thursday and has now been transferred to a hospital in Manhattan.
-- 24 October --
1656: The US government is said to have decided to limit vistors from Ebola countries to five airports.
1612: Spanish state television RTVE1 has announced that the Spanish nurse infected with Ebola, Teresa Romero, has tested negative in the second examination for the virus and is thus officially cleared of infection. RTVE1 cites sources at the hospital. Medical staff at the hospital are expected to hold an official press conference.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the first vaccines against Ebola could arrive as early as January. First phase clinical trials with the vaccines developed by GlaxoSmithKline and tested on volunteers in the US, UK and Mali have been successful.
1530: US officials have issued a set of tight guidelines of how health workers should protect themselves while treating Ebola patients. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it is “tightening previous infection control guidance for healthcare workers caring for patients with Ebola, to ensure there is no ambiguity.” As part of the new guidelines, workers should wear double gloves, boot covers, surgical hoods and waterproof apron.
1410: The Royal Army Medical Corps is sending 100 soldiers to Sierra Leone as part of the £125m aid package to help in the fight against the Ebola virus. Justine Greening, International Development Secretary, will join the medics already working in the West African country.
1300: Texas health officials have said over 120 people in Dallas are being monitored for possible contraction of the Ebola virus as they may have been in contact with the three infected patients.
1015: US authorities have placed US Ebola patient Nina Pham's dog into a testing phase in order to check for possible contamination.
917: Teresa Romero, the Spanish nurse infected with Ebola, faces a second test to check for the virus on Tuesday. This will be key to confirming the absence of the virus (after having tested negative in the primary check). If negative, she will be allowed out of quarantine. Spanish doctors explained to the press that they remain cautious on her state of health as the evolution of infections can be unpredictable.
-21 October-
1700: Three people in the US state of Ohio are under quarantine, but there are no confirmed cases of Ebola contagion, the Ohio Department of Health in a statement.
1439: In remarks to CNBC the president of the Federal Reserve bank of Dallas said he does not see his Fed district - which includes Texas - being impacted by Ebola fears.
1418: The International Monetary Fund has cut its growth forecast for sub-Saharan Africa this year due to the Ebola outbreak in the western portion of the continent and violence in at least five nations.
The Washington-based lender now expects growth in the region to reach 5% this year, more or less the same as last year, instead of 5.5%.
"The Ebola outbreak could have much larger regional spillovers, especially if it is more protracted or spreads to other countries, with trade, tourism, and investment confidence severely affected," the IMF said.
1331: Shares of iBio are down by 24% before the opening bell.
1258: 48 persons who had contact with deceased Ebola patient Eric Duncan were cleared of risk for the disease this past weekend or are expected to be today. His girlfriend and three persons from her household will also come out of their 21-day quarantine period today, Bloomberg News reports.
11:57:
of course we are making plans because likelihood, alas, is that there will be a case. v confident we can cope #askboris @1D_M_Elizabeth
— Boris Johnson (@MayorofLondon) October 20, 2014
1055: The World Health Organization (WHO) is expected to declare Nigeria an Ebola-free region. The announcement would follow the WHO's declaration on Friday that Senegal was Ebola free after dealing with an imported case of the deadly disease.
0833: The Spanish nurse Teresa Romero who became the first patient to be infected with the virus in Europe is showing positive signs. She has tested negative for the virus for the first time. A second test must be done within the next 48 hours to verify that she no longer has the disease.
Meanwhile, the Spanish region of Catalonia activated the anti-Ebola protocols late Sunday night due to a patient arriving in Barcelona from the Republic of Sierra Leone, West Africa who was hospitalised Sunday afternoon.
-20 October-
2118: US health officials have asked three advanced biology laboratories to submit plans for producing the experimental Ebola drug ZMapp, CNBC is reporting.
2117: The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta are due to issue stricter guidelines to help protect healthcare workers assigned to Ebola cases following Congressional criticism of the current measures in place according to reports.
1600: US president Barack Obama will name lawyer Ron Klain as the head of Us response to the Ebola crisis.
Klain, who was chief of staff to Vice president Joe Biden, is expected to be nominated as the Ebola "czar", which means he will oversee the US health security measures to stop the virus.
1326: Shares of cruise operator Carnvial are in the red on the back of reports that a healthcare worker who is in isolation on one of its ships in the Caribbean. According to Marketwatch, the woman had handled a specimen from of the man who died from Ebola in Dallas, though it has been 19 days since she was in the lab and is showing no symptoms.
1245: US president Barack Obama said on Friday he is considering changing the country’s policy over the Ebola outbreak, which could include travel bans.
The head of state also said extra specialists were being sent to Ohio as it is believed the second nurse affected with the virus might have been sick and contagious for four days before being diagnosed.
“It is very important that we are monitoring and tracking anyone who was in close proximity to this second nurse,” he told reporters at the White House.
1140: Public Health England said on Friday Ebola screenings will be extended to Birmingham and Manchester airports.
The news follows the beginning of screenings for the virus this week at Heathrow. Next week, they will be introduced at Gatwick and St Pancras.
09:17: UK pharmaceutical GlaxoSmithKline has claimed that its vaccine will appear on the market too late to stem the current outbreak. Full data, testing and safety measures will not be complete on any potential Ebola vaccine until 2015, said the company's head, Dr Ripley Ballou.
-16 October-
1841: The White House is still opposed to putting in place a travel ban on West African countries suffering from Ebola outbreaks.
1745: The CDC's chief has told the US Congress he is worried about the possibility of the virus spreading to other places in Africa, in turn becoming a threat to the country's healthcare system for a long time to come.
1625: China has stepped up preparations for a potential outbreak of Ebola, ensuring hospitals have ample equipment and setting up a national database of suspected and confirmed Ebola patients. In a statement on Thursday, the regulator called for health departments, disease prevention institutes and hospitals to ensure they shared data on those individuals which had come into close contact with suspected and confirmed Ebola patients, according to the Xinhua news agency.
1600: The US nurse union accused the Texas hospital where the first patient diagnosed with the Ebola virus of not handling his case under any protocol.
The National Nurse United said the patient which was firstly sent home with a fever, was “left for several hours, not in isolation, in an area where other patients were present” after being diagnosed with the virus.
“Some hospital personnel were coming in and out of those isolation areas in the Emergency Department without having worn the proper protective equipment,” they said in a statement.
1550:
Please Retweet. Ebola symptoms. Early treatment means a much better chance of survival. pic.twitter.com/Cgj34UalqZ
— Renzo Soprano (@Renzo_Soprano) October 16, 2014
Please Retweet. Ebola symptoms. Early treatment means a much better chance of survival. pic.twitter.com/Cgj34UalqZ
— Renzo Soprano (@Renzo_Soprano) October 16, 2014 ">
1401: Dallas County Commissioners may vote on Thursday to declare a local state of disaster as a result of the Ebola crisis.
1400: Stock in iBio is surging 48% after offering to 'assist' US authorities with its proprietary antibody production technology.
1108: British nurses, doctors and consultants will fly to Sierra Leone, West Africa, on Thursday to help in the fight against the outbreak.
A total of 92 army medics will join the 40 UK soldiers already operating in the West African country. By November, a team of 750 military people will join the group, as part of the UK plan to contain the outbreak.
“I firmly believe we can make a significant difference and it will be professionally rewarding for those taking part,” said Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel Alison McCourt.
“We need to provide sufficient reassurance to healthcare workers that will encourage them to come and help defeat this disease,” she said.
1000: Liberia, one of the most affected countries from the Ebola outbreak, is running out of body bags.
According to an inventory from the Liberian Ministry of health published by the Washington Post on Thursday, the country needs 79,940 more body bags in the next six months.
0930: US president Barack Obama has said the possibility of Americans getting the virus was “extremely low”.
Meanwhile, the second nurse diagnosed with Ebola in Texas was transferred on Wednesday to a special facility in Atlanta. The Texas hospital has apologised for the first time on Thursday in the way they handled the cases of the two nurses infected with the virus.
Dr Daniel Varga said they 'made mistakes' when the first patient showed up at the hospital with Ebola symptoms. The patient Thomas Eric Duncan was sent home after being examined, despite warning he had been in Liberia.
EU health ministers are due to meet on Thursday in Brussels to discuss the Ebola crisis.
Will Pooley, the British nurse who contracted the virus and survived, said he will go back to Sierra Leone to help frontline workers to treat Ebola patients. “There is still a lot of work to do out there and I am in the same or better position than when I chose to go out before,” he said.
A conference call discussing the Ebola crisis took place on Wednesday between US President Barack Obama and UK Prime Minister David Cameron, among other world leaders. Obama recently pledged to increase airport security measures throughout the US.
The White House Press Secretary said after the video call: “The leaders agreed to work together to enlist greater support from more countries and to coordinate their efforts on the ground.”
-15 October-
0900: The World Health Organization said on Wednesday 4,493 people have died from Ebola. “The situation in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone is deteriorating, with widespread and persistent transmission of Ebola,” the WHO said. The organization said problems gathering data in Liberia “make it hard to draw any firm conclusions.”
The Ebola virus is “winning the race”, the United Nations (UN) security council said, warning the steps implemented are not enough to contain the outbreak.
-14 October-
0952: A United Nations worker, who contracted Ebola while working in Liberia and was being treated at a hospital in Germany, has died. "We can confirm that the UNworker being treated here died last night from the Ebola virus. He was of Sudanese nationality," a spokesman for the St. Georg clinic in Leipzig said Tuesday.
-13 October-
1644: Heathrow plans to start airport screening for the virus on Tuesday, according to UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt. Checks would focus on arrivals from risk countries and have temperatures taken, a required risk questionnaire and recorded contact details.
1602: EU health ministers plan on studying on Thursday the possibility of airport screening for the Ebola virus. “The idea is to discuss border controls when you arrive in the European Union with respect to Ebola,” according to the EU Health Commissioner spokesman Frédéric Vincent.
1514: The patient in Boston who was suspected of being infected with Ebola in Boston appears not to be at a high-risk of having contracted the virus, according to Reuters.
1513: Some healthcare experts are angered by the assertion from the head of the CDC that a “protocol breach” was the reason why a Dallas nurse became infected with Ebola Rather, they believe it shows that the country’s hospitals lack adequate training to face the deadly virus, Reuters reports.
1434: The shares of those companies which stand to gain from the Ebola crisis continued to advance on Monday. That is the case of US-listed Lakeland Industries and Alph Pro Tech, both of which make garments to guard against hazardous materials. iBio stock was an outstanding gainer, with its shares rocketing 86% after having already vaulted 83% last Friday.
1042: Shares of IAG and easyJet are both registering gains of circa 2% early on. US officials' description of the first Ebola infection Stateside as being the result of a mistake in the protocol for treating these kinds of cases may be helping sentiment. Similarly, on Sunday European investigators in Madrid were cited as saying the infection there was the result of an accident.
0938: Spanish state television reported that the state of the Spanish nurse Teresa Romero infected with the virus worsened in recent hours. The fourteenth and fifteenth day of infection are considered to be key in the development of patients and Monday marks Romero's fourteenth day.
0730: Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister José Manuel García-Margallo declared that the Ebola outbreak will not affect Spain's “brand name” for the long-term since the case has shown “the solidarity of the Spanish people”.
0709: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced on Sunday that a healthcare worker at Texas Presbyterian Hospital has tested positive for Ebola. The worker had been caring for the Dallas index patient, Thomas Eric Duncan, and is currently in isolation.
-12 October-
2140: That concludes our live coverage on the Ebola outbreak for today. We'll be back with more updates tomorrow.
2131: Thomas Duncan, the first victim of Ebola in the US, was released from hospital with a 39.4C fever on his first visit, despite telling a nurse he had recently returned from Africa and exhibiting symptoms of the virus, it was revealed on Friday.
1759: The number of people killed by the Ebola outbreak has risen above 4,000, the World Health Organization said.
1703: Leading global health experts did not anticipate the scale of the Ebola outbreak, according to the BBC. Chris Dye from the World Health Organization (WHO) said the international response was helping but more effort was needed. "We've asked for a response of about $1bn (£618m)," he said. "So far we have around $300m (£185m) with more being pledged, so a bit less than half of what we need but it's climbing quickly all the time."
1519: William Bremer, senior industrial and infrastructure analyst at Maxim Group, is doing due dilligence into Alpha Pro Tech Ltd., a manufacturer of kit used by teams involved in emergency situations such as dealing with cases of Ebola, Marketwatch.com reports. Shares of the company, which does not currently have any analyst coverage, are surging by 27%.
1229: UK Prime Minister David Cameron has said screening of people at border security was necessary to protect people from the Ebola virus. People arriving from areas hit by Ebola will face enhanced screening at Heathrow, Gatwick and Eurostar terminals. They will be asked questions and potentially given a medical assessment. "Quite rightly, we're taking all the steps we can to keep our own people safe here in the UK,” Cameron said. "What we do is we listen to the medical advice and we act on that advice and that's why we're introducing the screening processes at the appropriate ports and airports."
1131: First analysis shows there was "small probability" a Briton who died in Macedonia on Thursday had the Ebola virus, according to health officials. "There is a small probability he had Ebola, but we have to wait for the full results," Dr. Jovanka Kostovska of the Macedonia ministry's commission for infectious diseases, told a news conference, according to Reuters.
Kostovska said the hotel where the Briton had been staying remained sealed off and blood and tissue samples have been sent to Frankfurt for testing. There have been no other suspicious cases in Macedonia, the doctor added.
1000: A spokesman for Gatwick had told BBC that "we've not had anything at all. We're still waiting for Public Health England (to let us know)."
A Heathrow spokesman on the other hand said it had begun working with Public Health England to put the new measures in place, adding that the risk of a traveller contracting Ebola had been assessed as low.
0853: On the UK front, officials are trying to determine if a British man in Macedonia died of the disease. Staying in a hotel with his friend, both fell ill. The deceased man had some of the symptoms of Ebola but it has not been confirmed that he had actually contracted the disease.
Meanwhile, the Spanish press is filled with criticism of the government's handling of the virus and containment. Most noteworthy, several representatives made conflicting reports on the status of the infected nurse Teresa Romero which forced the hospital to clarify that the patient had not died.
-10 October-
2044: About 200 cabin cleaners at New York’s La Guardia Airport have decided to strike over what they say are safety concerns, as concerns on the Ebola virus continue to grow.
1842: French authorities seal off building near Paris over suspected Ebola cases , French media have reported
1730: Downing Street is expected to soon announce that it will beef up its screening at airports for signs of Ebola following the death of the first patient diagnosed with the virus in the US.
1611: The brother of Teresa Romero, the Spanish nurse who was diagnosed with Ebola on Monday, has said his sister's conditions have worsened and that she was now being helped with her breathing in hospital. Meanwhile, two of the doctors who treated Romero have been admitted for observation at the Carlos III hospital, though so far neither of the two doctors had shown Ebola symptoms, hospital officials said.
1540: According to reports in a Turkish newspaper, a Turkish worker has been hospitalized in Istanbul after signs of high fever and diarrhea, while German health officials have confirmed a third Ebola patient has arrived in the country, after contracting the disease in Liberia.
1311: The emergency room doctor that attended the first nurse infected by the virus Teresa Romero stated that the ambulance took five hours to get her to the hospital after the second test said she was infected by the virus.
1253: World Bank president Jim Kim has admitted the globe had “failed miserably” in its response to the Ebola virus. “It’s late. It’s really late,” he said in an interview with the Guardian before the annual meeting of the Washington-based organisation this weekend.
“We should have done so many things. Healthcare systems should have been built. There should have been monitoring when the first cases were reported. There should have been an organised response.”
1150: Spanish news coverage continues to focus on the dog that was put to sleep amidst fear of contagion. “Its existence was a risk for humans and the only solution was euthanasia,” Madrid authorities insisted.
1129: Rúben Moreno, Spanish government's health department spokesman, told Congress that safety protocols must be changed, “but not just in Spain, but in the entire world”.
1120: The UK government has attempted to calm the public but said it has no plans to screen for Ebola at border points. "There’s no need for hysteria or panic of that kind,” said defence secretary Michael Fallon. He cited advice from the WHO, saying that "screening is best done when you leave a country [...] rather than the country you come into".
0900: An Australian nurse has been hospitalised after reporting symptoms of the deadly Ebola virus.
The nurse, Sue Ellen Kovack, 57, had been working with the Red Cross in Sierra Leone with Ebola victims. She returned home to Cairns, Queensland, on Tuesday were she is undergoing medical assessments after developing a slight temperature.
On Wednesday, Texas Health hospital announced Thomas Eric Duncan died in Dallas after being hospitalised with the Ebola virus last week.
Excalibur, the dog of the Spanish nurse who has been diagnosed with Ebola in Madrid, has been put down, according to sources from the Ministry of Health of the Community of Madrid.
Later at night, six people were admitted to Carlos III hospital in Madrid for possible Ebola contagion.