France has confirmed its first Ebola case linked to the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, officials said.
The patient is a humanitarian doctor who recently returned from the DRC and has been transferred to a specialist hospital, authorities confirmed.
French health officials say the case was detected quickly, the necessary precautions are in place and that there is no indication of local spread.
Officials said a thorough epidemiological investigation is underway to identify individuals who may have been in contact with the patient and that they will be contacted “without delay” by the regional health agency before undergoing 21 days of home isolation while being closely monitored the entire time.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has assessed the risk of infection as “low” for European residents and travellers to areas of active transmission, and “very low” for the general European population.
