--- title: Heathrow Airport Starts Ebola Screenings description: England's Heathrow airport began screening passengers coming from at-risk countries for Ebola Tuesday. canonical: https://time.com/3505660/heathrow-airport-ebola/ author: Laura Stampler article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-14T11:43:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:00:28.830Z article:section: Health og:title: Heathrow Airport Starts Ebola Screenings og:description: A health official says he expects a "handful" of cases to enter the UK og:url: https://time.com/3505660/heathrow-airport-ebola/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta5e7e34287821a9f/698760943c16395bc944f061/heathrow-london-ebola.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Ebola screening to begin at London's Heathrow Airport og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Heathrow Airport Starts Ebola Screenings twitter:description: A health official says he expects a "handful" of cases to enter the UK twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta5e7e34287821a9f/698760943c16395bc944f061/heathrow-london-ebola.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Heathrow Airport Starts Screening for Ebola ## Video: Science Cop: Ebola Fear Mongers [Watch (HLS stream): Science Cop: Ebola Fear Mongers](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Fwl31d5e.m3u8) (2:30)  _Published 2014-10-10. TIME's Science Cop Jeffrey Kulger takes on the media figures stirring up panic in the aftermath of the ebola outbreak._ by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Oct 14, 2014 11:43 AM UTC  Passengers walk at Heathrow Airport in London on Oct. 14, 2014. Passengers walk at Heathrow Airport in London on Oct. 14, 2014.Andy Rain—EPA by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Oct 14, 2014 11:43 AM UTC England’s Heathrow airport began [screening](http://www.bbc.com/news/health-29604184) passengers for Ebola Tuesday. Arrivals from at-risk countries in West Africa will be subject to filling out a questionnaire and having their temperature taken before the process gets rolled out to other terminals within Heathrow and then other airports including Gatwick and Eurostar. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said that although the UK’s Ebola risk is low, he expects a “handful” of cases to enter the region, [the BBC reports](http://www.bbc.com/news/health-29604184). Health officials said anyone suspected to have Ebola will be taken to a hospital, while those who are asymptomatic but high-risk, having reported prior contact with patients, will receive daily follow-ups. Journalist Sorious Samura, who traveled back from Monrovia, Liberia, through Brussels and into Heathrow, told [_The Guardian_](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/14/ebola-screenings-heathrow-airport-mixed-response) that he underwent the screening — but noted that it was optional. “I could have just come throughout without any screening. That is how scary it is,” he said. “They asked for various details, about the symptoms, whether you experienced any of the symptoms, did you experience headaches, vomiting and things like that, and then they did my temperature using the normal equipment that you put in someone’s ear.” “\[The screening\] appears not to be a scientific decision but a political one,” Dr. Ron Behrens from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine told [_The Telegraph_, ](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/ebola/11160038/Ebola-crisis-huge-disruption-expected-at-Heathrow-as-screening-begins.html)noting that it will benefit few but disrupt “large numbers of people.” Health Secretary Hunt [said](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/ebola/11160038/Ebola-crisis-huge-disruption-expected-at-Heathrow-as-screening-begins.html) that approximately 89% of people entering the UK from impacted regions would get checked, since some might take an indirect route in the airport that avoids the screening area. He added, “This government’s first priority is the safety of the British people.” _Read next:_ [_Ebola Health Care Workers Face Hard Choices_](http://time.com/3502002/ebola-liberia-sierra-leone-doctors-nurses/?xid=time%5Freadnext) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3505660/heathrow-airport-ebola/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3505660/heathrow-airport-ebola/"},"headline":"Heathrow Airport Starts Screening for Ebola","datePublished":"2014-10-14T11:43:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:00:28.830Z","description":"A health official says he expects a \"handful\" of cases to enter the UK","url":"https://time.com/3505660/heathrow-airport-ebola/","keywords":["ebola","health","uk","infectious diseases"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta5e7e34287821a9f/698760943c16395bc944f061/heathrow-london-ebola.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laura Stampler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta5e7e34287821a9f/698760943c16395bc944f061/heathrow-london-ebola.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ebola screening to begin at London's Heathrow Airport","caption":"Ebola screening to begin at London's Heathrow Airport","creditText":"Andy Rain—EPA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/ebola/","name":"ebola"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3505660/heathrow-airport-ebola/","name":"Heathrow Airport Starts Screening for Ebola"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Airports To Begin Ebola Screenings","description":"Airports To Begin Ebola Screenings","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/oEffwsLQ/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-10-12T13:34:49.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/oEffwsLQ.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3505660/heathrow-airport-ebola/","duration":"PT2M16S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3505660/heathrow-airport-ebola/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Science Cop: Ebola Fear Mongers","description":"TIME's Science Cop Jeffrey Kulger takes on the media figures stirring up panic in the aftermath of the ebola outbreak.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Fwl31d5e/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-10-10T20:03:51.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Fwl31d5e.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3505660/heathrow-airport-ebola/","duration":"PT2M30S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3505660/heathrow-airport-ebola/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```