Category of risk | Description | Public Health England recommended actions |
Category 0 | Individuals who have not visited an EVD affected area and have had no contact with EVD or an EVD infected individual. | Reassure and provide written and verbal information. Continue normal activities. |
Category 1 | Individuals who have visited an EVD affected area but had no direct contact with an EVD infected individual or been exposed to any other high-risk event. This category also included those working in laboratories assured to be operating to a UK standard. | Reassure and provide written and verbal information. Advise to take temperature if feeling unwell and phone 111 if ≥37.5°C. Continue normal activities. |
Category 2 (low-risk exposure) | Individuals having direct (close) contact with an infected person or their body fluids but who did not have direct physical contact during clinical care and had no known breaches of protective equipment/clothing during this contact. | Reassure and provide written and verbal information. For 21 days following last exposure:
|
Category 3 (high-risk exposure) | High-risk individuals who had direct contact with symptomatic infected individuals and potential exposure to bodily fluids including breaches to protective equipment/clothing or had worked in a laboratory not assured to be working to UK standard. | Reassure and provide written and verbal information. For 21 days following last exposure:
|
Adapted from public health guidance ‘Ebola: public health recommendations for asymptomatic contacts’ https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ebola-public-health-recommendations-for-asymptomatic-contacts.
EVD, Ebola virus disease.