The first case of the deadly Ebola virus has been confirmed in Scotland, officials said Monday.
The unnamed patient, a healthcare worker, has already been placed under isolation at a Glasgow hospital and preparations are being made for transportation "to the high level isolation unit in the Royal Free hospital, London, as soon as possible," Scotland's health agency NHS Scotland said according to CNN.
The healthcare worker was treating patients in Sierra Lone, one of three West African countries battling the worst epidemic of the disease in history. After traveling to Morocco, the patient continued on to London before arriving on a British Airways flight at Glasgow Airport at around 11:30 p.m. Sunday, health officials told CNN.
"The patient was admitted to hospital early in the morning after feeling unwell and was placed into isolation at 7:50 a.m. All possible contacts with the patient are now being investigated and anyone deemed to be at risk will be contacted and closely monitored," NHS Scotland said.
Health officials added that chances the patient infected others are low because the illness was caught at a very early stage. The patient is to be moved to London where only highly trained medical staff will have access to the isolation unit.
"Scotland has been preparing for this possibility from the beginning of the outbreak in West Africa and I am confident that we are well prepared," Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's head of government, said according to CNN.
Ebola has killed about 7,600 people in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia this year and over 19,400 cases have been confirmed as of Dec. 24, according to the World Health Organization.
The Monday diagnosis comes a day after U.S. White House Ebola czar Ron Klain said the fight against the disease is "nearing a pivot point," with a vaccine in the works and distribution expected to begin in early 2014.
