EBOLA OUTBREAK: DAVID CAMERON SAYS DEADLY VIRUS POSES 'SERIOUS THREAT' TO BRITAIN.

EBOLA OUTBREAK: DAVID CAMERON SAYS DEADLY VIRUS POSES 'SERIOUS THREAT' TO BRITAIN.

Medical staff working with Medecins sans Frontieres in Sierra Leone prepare to bring food to patients
Picture: Reuters

By Georgia Graham, Political Correspondent
Philip Hammond prepares to chair emergency Cobra meeting on the disease to decide 'measures' Britain needs to deal with the growing threat of the deadly virus

The spread of Ebola is a “very serious threat” to the UK, the Foreign Secretary has said as he prepares to chair an emergency meeting on how to tighten the Britain’s defences against the deadly virus.

Mr Hammond said that David Cameron regards the threat as “serious” and will discuss which measures need to be taken to protect British people from the virus bother in the UK or in our diplomatic posts abroad.

He said the Government was “very much focused” on dealing with the “new and emerging threat.”

American Patrick Sawyer died of Ebola in Nigeria (AP)

Global response to the disease has been ramped up following the death of an American citizen who died in Lagos who was allowed to board an international flight.

The disease, which can be fatal for up to 90 per cent of infected victims, had killed more than 670 people in an outbreak across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Public Health England has issued an urgent warning to doctors to watch for signs of the disease after an infected man was allowed to travel through an international hub. Official said the virus was “clearly not under control.”

Speaking on Sky News, Mr Hammond said that discussion of the response to the virus has “certainly” has reached Cabinet level discussions with the Prime Minister.

He said: “As far as we are aware there are no British national so far affected by this outbreak and certainly no cases in the UK. However the prime Minister does regard it as a very serious threat.

“I will be chairing a cobra meeting later on today to assess the situation and look at any measures that we need to take either in the UK or in our diplomatic posts abroad in order to manage that threat.

“Were very much focused on it as a new and emerging threat that we need to deal with.”

The meeting has been called after the Government’s chief scientist warned that deadly diseases such as Ebola are “potentially a major threat” to Britain.

In an interview with The Telegraph Sir Mark Walport, the Government’s chief scientific adviser said the increasingly interconnected world was placing Britons at risk.