With students soon to be returning to study at the close of the summer holidays, new guidance on Ebola Virus Disease from PHE is particularly relevant for those establishments that may have students returning from countries affected by the Ebola outbreak.

All staff or those with contact with children should already be aware of what to do if a child/student falls ill and there is general guidance (referred to in the PHE document in the link below) on infection control in school and childcare settings.

The enclosed guidance document includes an algorithm to inform the assessment of unwell individuals in educational settings and we would ask that headteachers, members of the senior management team and other members of the school staff, as appropriate, familiarise themselves with the guidance. The guidance can be accessed here.

I should also like to emphasise that, at the time of writing, PHE and the Department of Health still class this as very low risk for the UK.

Anyone who has concerns is encouraged to get in touch with the West Yorkshire PHE Health Protection Team – Tel: 0113 386 0300 (duty desk) or 0114 304 9843 (out of hours) and ask for public health on-call.

Ebola advice for educational childcare and young persons settings

Risk assessment and guidance letter 

Public Health advice