A healthcare worker returning from west Africa has been diagnosed with the Ebola virus after arriving in the United Kingdom on a British Airways flight.

The female patient arrived in Glasgow on BA 1478 on Sunday, following connections in London Heathrow and Casablanca in Morocco.

She had travelled from Sierra Leone, one of the countries worst hit by the outbreak.

The patient has since been taken to the Royal Free Hospital in London.

She is understood to have been flown to RAF Northolt in a military plane after leaving Glasgow in a convoy.

All possible contacts with the case are being investigated.

However, officials advised risk to the public is minimal.

A telephone helpline - 08000 858531 - has been set up for anyone who was on the BA 1478 Heathrow to Glasgow flight.

The Royal Free Hospital has a specialist isolation unit and also treated William Pooley, the British nurse who contracted and recovered from Ebola.

Charity Save the Children confirmed the woman was an NHS health worker who was working with them at the Ebola Treatment Centre in Kerry Town, Sierra Leone.