UK authorities meet to assess Ebola outbreak threat

The British government's emergencies committee is to meet to discuss how to tackle the “new and emerging” threat of Ebola, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has said as fears mounted that the deadly virus could spread to the UK.

Mr Hammond said no British national so far had been affected by the outbreak, which is centred on West Africa, and there had been no cases in the UK but he would be chairing the Government’s Cobra emergencies committee later today to assess the situation.