The first Briton to be diagnosed with Ebola on UK soil is believed to be experienced Scottish NHS nurse Pauline Cafferkey, who may have contracted the disease at a Christmas Day church service.
The 39-year-old, who has been a nurse for 16 years and usually works at the Blantyre Health Centre in South Lanarkshire, flew out to Sierra Leone in November to work for Save the Children. Colleagues who volunteered with her believe she may have contracted the deadly disease after attending a church service without wearing her hazard suit on Christmas morning.
Today she is in an isolation unit at the Royal Free Hospital in London after being flown from Glasgow this morning surrounded by a large medical team in protective clothing. Miss Cafferkey fell ill hours after she flew back to Scotland from Africa via Heathrow, and the authorities have traced 63 of the 70 people who flew with her from London to Glasgow on Sunday.
One of her Colleague, Dr Deahl said that medical staff always wore hazard suits at work but some did not when they went out into the wider community. A number of the 30 NHS staff out in Sierra Leone, including himself, worshipped at a local church on Christmas Day. She said:
'I would bet anything that she caught this while out in the community. I went to church myself on Christmas morning and I have no doubt Pauline probably contracted the virus doing something similar.But he criticised Public Health England for poor advice on when those exposed to deadly virus should travel.
'The precautions and checks at the airport were shambolic. They ran out of testing kits and didn't seem to know what they were doing. He said: 'I was sitting next to her on the plane when we flew back on Sunday night and she seemed fine. I am absolutely fine. I am just so shocked and heartbroken to hear that anyone from our team is ill.
'We were told that we were considered high risk but yet were told to make our own way home from Heathrow, either on the Tube, by bus or train or another flight like the one Pauline and others took. I was picked up.
'Public Health England told us we should avoid public transport or crowded places for 21 days, but only after we had got home. It defies common sense and we told them that.
'A group who arrived back on Christmas Eve were all given taxis home but we weren't and one can only conclude this is because Public Health England wanted to save money.It also emerged this morning that another patient is being tested for Ebola after being admitted to the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro last night and is being kept in isolation for 24 hours while they wait for the results.
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