France confirms first Ebola case in doctor who had worked in DRC

Health workers tend to an Ebola patient in the DRC province of Ituri. The doctor in the French case had been on a humanitarian mission in the area. Photograph: Moses Sawasawa/AP

The first case of Ebola has been confirmed in France, the country’s health ministry has said, in a doctor who had returned from a humanitarian mission to an area affected by the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The patient was transferred to a specialist facility and was in a stable condition, the ministry said in a statement. “All precautionary measures, including the patient’s isolation, were taken upon his arrival in the country, with transfer to the hospital under secure conditions to prevent any risk of contamination.”