The passenger became unwell on arrival and was said to be sweating and violently vomiting. She was taken to hospital immediately but died shortly afterwards. After showing signs of deadly virus Ebola, the woman was tested. But the results came back negative.
Dr Brian McCloskey, director of global public health at Public Health England, said: "Yesterday morning a passenger became unwell after disembarking a flight at Gatwick from The Gambia, and sadly died in hospital. "There was no health risk to other passengers or crew, as the passenger did not have symptoms during the flight. It was considered very unlikely to be a case of Ebola but testing was done as a precaution, and was negative.
"The correct procedures were followed to confirm there was no reason to quarantine the airplane, the passengers or staff. "PHE can confirm there was no public health risk around the sad death of this individual."
Airport staff isolated those at the airport from the woman as the tests were carried out and the aircraft was cleared top to bottom.
A Gatwick spokeswoman said: "We can confirm that a passenger on board a Gambia Bird flight on Saturday August 2 became unwell after disembarking the aircraft, was treated by experienced medical airport staff at the scene but sadly later died at East Surrey Hospital.
"Given the origin of the flight, the hospital carried out tests for Ebola and other infectious diseases as a precaution." There are still no cases of Ebola in the UK as fears of an outbreak still linger.
So far, the fatal disease has killed more than 800 people across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in West Africa. Source: www.dailystar.co.uk
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