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The Cobra emergency committee was chaired by Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond as British medics were warned to look out for symptoms in patients newly arrived from affected areas in West Africa.

Fears that the disease - fatal in 90 per cent of victims - could be spread by international air travel have been heightened by the death of an American who developed symptoms last week on a flight from Liberia to the Nigerian city of Lagos.

Dr Brian McCloskey, of Public Health England, said the outbreak is "clearly not yet under control", describing it as the most "acute health emergency" facing Britain.

But he stressed the risk to UK travellers remained "very low".

Immigration Removal Centres have been told how to carry out health assessments for people who may have previously been in Ebola outbreak areas and guidance on what to look out for in passengers arriving here by air or sea is being given to the UK Border Agency.

 

The death toll is continuing to rise in West Africa [EPA]

Emerging infectious disease is a global grand challenge

Sir Mark Walport, Government's chief scientific adviser

One man returning from West Africa was tested in Birmingham, although tests proved negative.

Another was cleared after complaining of symptoms at Charing Cross Hospital in London.

Mr McCloskey said: "People who have returned from affected areas who have a sudden onset of symptoms such as fever, headache, sore throat and general malaise within three weeks of their return should immediately seek medical assistance."

PHE is also helping to fight the virus overseas and will deploy 10 staff to affected areas by the end of August.

Two US Peace Corps volunteers in Liberia have been put in isolation after coming in contact with a person who later died of Ebola.

They are showing no signs of sickness. But volunteers are being withdrawn from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The American who died was consultant Patrick Sawyer, 40, flying back from the funeral of his sister who was also killed by the disease.

 

Ebola outbreaks in Africa [EXPRESS]

The Nigerian authorities are trying to contact 30,000 people who could have come into contact with him. His death means Ebola, which has killed 672 people in the three countries since February, has now spread to Africa's most populous country, Nigeria.Lancaster University virus expert Dr Derek Gatherer said: "From Lagos, where Mr Sawyer died, planes go everywhere.

"Anyone on the same plane could be infected.

"It can be passed on through vomiting, diarrhoea, saliva or sweat.

"That is why there is such alarm over Mr Sawyer. He became ill on the flight, so anyone else sharing the plane could have been infected." He said only about 10 per cent of people infected will recover.

"The outlook is pretty bleak," he added. "They will need to trace everyone on the passenger list and isolate them.

"I believe they have contacted about half, but the others could be anywhere else in the world now."

Medical personnel inside a clinic taking care of Ebola patients [AP]

A nurse disinfects the waiting area of a hospital in Liberia [EPA]

Professor Robert Dingwall, an expert in infectious diseases at Nottingham Trent University, said the UK is taking the threat "seriously".

He warned: "We cannot hope to keep cases out at the borders." He said infected people who survive can continue to pass on the virus for up to seven weeks.

He added: "We are not doomed in the UK, but it is sensible to raise our level of alert."

Texan doctor Kent Brantly, 33, and fellow American Nancy Writebol, a 60-year-old charity aid worker, are being treated in hospital after contracting the virus while helping to fight Ebola in Liberia.

Dr Hannah Spencer, 27, from Surrey, recently worked with the medical charity Doctors Without Borders to help fight the outbreak in Liberia.

She said: "I wouldn't say I felt completely calm - obviously you have some anxieties before you go."