Government said the screening is needed 'to make our country safe'

Britain's Ebola screening plans descended into chaos on its first day today after people flying to the UK from high risk countries revealed the checks are not compulsory.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said airline passengers from West Africa must be checked for symptoms 'to make our country safe' and warned the epidemic could be as deadly as Aids.

He also warned Britain should expect up to ten cases by Christmas as screening of passengers from Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, where 4,000 have died from Ebola, started at Heathrow.

But travellers at Terminal One this morning said the system is a 'complete joke' because they were either not checked at all, told it was optional or had to seek out medical staff themselves.

Scroll down for video

Passengers being screened at Heathrow, as enhanced screening for Ebola begins at Britain's biggest airport

This photograph issued by Public Health England shows a passenger completing an interview at Heathrow

Public Health England, which is carrying out the checks, said today that the six months of planned screening will cost £9million

Travellers at Terminal One this morning said the system is a 'complete joke' because they were either not checked at all, told it was optional or had to seek out medical staff themselves

After the complaints the Department of Health confirmed that screening travellers at major entry points into UK is not mandatory unless they 'show symptoms of the virus'.

Public Health England, which is carrying out the checks, said today that the six months of planned screening will cost £9million.

SCARE AT GLASGOW AIRPORT AFTER PASSENGER FELL ILL Air passengers feared a fellow traveller had Ebola during a scare at Glasgow Airport today. He fell ill on a flight from Amsterdam and the flight was grounded and quarantined at 1pm. Health officials rushed to the scene after a passenger complained of feeling with flu-like symptoms. Passengers and crew had to stay on the KLM flight while it was confirmed it wasn't Ebola. The people on board were eventually allowed to disembark from the flight around an hour after it landed. One passenger said: 'It was a pretty scary experience and all we could think was Ebola given everything that's been in the news about it. 'A man had said to the cabin crew that he was feeling really unwell and when we landed we were told we all had to remain on board'. 'There were police officers standing guard on the runway and it was a great relief when we were allowed off'. Advertisement

Sorious Samura who flew in from Liberia this morning, said he had decided to volunteer to be screened and was not made to take the questionnaire and temperature check.

The documentary maker had been making a film about the deadly virus in Liberia and arrived at the London hub this morning from a connecting flight from Brussels.

And he said checks and precautions were more strict in the west African state than those he met at Britain's borders.

He said: 'It was disappointing. I think in a situation like this, given the fear that is being spread, I would expect a mandatory screening.

'I was told it is up to you if you want to be screened or not.

'Having seen it first hand I think it was a bit lax here. To be honest it was a complete joke'.

Clive Patterson, 32, who was working on a documentary on the virus with Mr Samura, also volunteered to be screened.

He said: 'We have been working, interviewing, people who are in the thick of it.

'If you are going to make the effort and take this measure, you might as well make it compulsory.

'I could have Ebola and I could have walked straight through.'

Checks: This is the health assessment questionnaire being used to screen passengers arriving from West Africa, for signs of Ebola

First steps: The Government began screening of passengers on certain flights into Heathrow today - but it was branded a 'complete joke'

Criticism: Clive Patterson, 32, a film maker working in Liberia on an Ebola documentary was not stopped so went to speak to medical staff himself and said: 'I could have walked straight through.'

Gina Jere, 50, said she was surprised not to have been screened at Heathrow this morning.

EBOLA QUESTIONS: WHAT HIGH RISK PASSENGERS ARE ASKED Passengers arriving from Britain from high risk areas are being subject to screening at Heathrow. They are being asked to complete a questionnaire asking about their current health and where they have come from. As well as personal details, including name, nationality, address in UK and phone number they have been asked: Have you come into contact with a person known/suspected to have Ebola?

Attend any funerals or had any contact with any dead bodies?

Visited any traditional healers or been admitted to hospital? Health: Do you have a temperature now or had one in the past 48 hours? Currently do you have any of the following: Headache

Vomiting/ feeling sick?

Diarrhoea

Intense fatigue or exhaustion?

Bruising

Unexplained or unusual bleeding Advertisement

The journalist - who flew in from The Gambia via Brussels - said she saw no one being screened this morning and she was not even asked where she had flown in from.

She said when she arrived in The Gambia she and her fellow passengers were all screened.

She said: 'I think I should have been screened.'

It came as Jeremy Hunt said the Ebola epidemic could be as deadly as Aids, which has claimed 30million lives.

And it emerged the death rate has now reached 70 per cent, with the World Health Organisation warning there could be 10,000 new cases per week within two months.

More than 4,000 people have died from a total of 8,914 cases across West Africa and also Spain and the United States.

In America every high risk passenger arriving at five airports including JFK in New York from Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea has their temperature checked and asked if they are unwell.

Exit screening is already in place in West Africa, but the World Health Organisation does not advise on entry screening in other countries.

But the Government has decided to do it at Heathrow from today and Gatwick and Eurostar terminals later this week.

Mr Hunt told The Times: 'This is a global health emergency we haven't seen for years. Possibly it could get to the scale of the Aids epidemic. The impact it could have could be absolutely huge.

'If we are going to make our country safe we need to make sure the virus is contained. It is a global phenomenon'.

Warning: Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said Ebola could rival the Aids epidemic of the past 60 years

Staff from North East Ambulance Service and the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle tool part in a national exercise to test Britain's readiness for an ebola outbreak. The Government believe there will be UK case

He said that the only way to protect health in the UK is 'to contain the virus in Africa' but in bringing in screening at Britain's busiest ports of entry it appears the Government does not trust screening there.

The World Health Organisation yesterday described the epidemic as the 'most severe acute health emergency in modern times' as the number of cases hit 8,400, killing 4,030.

Underlining the potential turmoil, WHO director-general Margaret Chan said: 'I have never seen a health event threaten the very survival of societies and governments in already very poor countries.'

The Department of Health confirmed that screening travellers at Heathrow, pictured today, is not mandatory unless they 'show symptoms of the virus'

Mr Hunt announced that screening for Ebola will begin at Heathrow airport today.

He told MPs: 'In the next week, Public Health England will start screening and monitoring UK-bound air passengers identified by the Border Force coming on to the main routes from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

'This will allow potential Ebola virus carriers arriving in the UK to be identified, tracked and given rapid access to expert health advice should they develop symptoms.'

'Passengers will have their temperature taken and complete a questionnaire asking about their current health, recent travel history and whether they might be at potential risk through contact with Ebola patients,' he said.

Screening measures – a questionnaire followed by a possible medical examination and temperature check – will be introduced at Heathrow Terminal 1 today, followed later this week at Gatwick, Eurostar stations and other Heathrow terminals.

The arrival checks could be extended to Birmingham and Manchester if the risk level increases, Mr Hunt said.

People will be asked if they have potential symptoms of Ebola, including breathing problems, fever, diarrhoea and vomiting and will be questioned about their travel history.

Doctors say screening is unlikely to be effective in stopping the virus from entering Britain and have accused the Government of using it as a 'political gesture'.

Dr Ben Neuman, a virologist at the University of Reading, said: 'In the early stages, Ebola can be indistinguishable from the flu, but it can also have aspects of other winter viruses like colds and norovirus.

'These diseases usually develop differently over a few days, but in a situation where a screener only gets one chance to decide whether a passenger is an Ebola risk, other winter diseases will probably be mistaken for Ebola.'

Workers in Macedonia's capital Skopje have also begun screening the skin temperature of the passengers with a thermal imaging camera. In Britain passengers will have temperature taken and asked questions

But Mr Hunt said the procedure should pick up 89 per cent of people travelling from the affected region, and it could be extended to Birmingham and Manchester if the risk increases.

Anyone who tests positive for Ebola will be transferred to Royal Free Hospital in north London, where British nurse William Pooley, 29, was successfully treated when he contracted the virus in August.

There are also plans to provide Ebola 'surge wards' in Newcastle, Liverpool and Sheffield, to make a total of 26 beds available. 'The situation will get worse before it gets better,' he told the Commons.

EBOLA CLAIMS LIFE OF UN WORKER A United Nations worker infected with Ebola has died in a hospital in Germany. The Sudanese man was a doctor and landed in the eastern German town of Leipzig for treatment five days ago, according to local officials. He is a UN employee from Liberia and is the third person infected with Ebola to be treated in Germany. One of the others has been released from hospital and the other is still receiving treatment. Local health officials said last week that the patient was a Sudanese doctor who had arrived in Germany from Liberia. The man landed shortly after 5am last Thursday in a modified Gulfstream jet equipped with an isolation chamber, and was met by a medical team in biohazard suits and two ambulances. In a statement the hospital said: 'The patient sick with ebola fever died during the night in St Georg Clinic in Leipzig. Despite intensive medical measures and maximum efforts by the medical team, the 56-year-old UN employee succumbed to the serious infectious disease.' Advertisement

He said it was 'genuinely very difficult' to predict an exact number of UK cases but, when pushed, said up to ten would be expected in the next three months.

Mr Hunt admitted he could not guarantee UK patients would receive the experimental drug ZMapp that was given to Mr Pooley.

The Health Secretary also announced that calls to the NHS's non-emergency 111 phoneline will be screened for potential Ebola sufferers.

Medical experts have criticised the screening – which stops short of the automated temperature scanning introduced by the US – as a 'political gesture'.

US officials said screening Ebola would start at five major international airports as early as this weekend.

Passengers arriving from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea will be given questionnaires and have their temperatures taken.

New York's John F Kennedy airport, America's busiest arrival point for African visitors, will start enforcing the heightened new procedures this weekend.

It will be followed next week by four more airports - Newark in New Jersey, Washington Dulles in the US capital, O'Hare in Chicago and Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta.

In the US, it has been confirmed that a nurse in Texas has tested positive for ebola – the first person known to have caught the disease in America.

The woman, who has not been named, had tended to a Liberian victim at a hospital in Dallas and authorities said her diagnosis suggested there had been a breach in safety protocol.

In Spain, another nurse who contracted the disease treating patients from West Africa remains in a serious condition in a Madrid hospital, although she is showing signs of 'slight improvement'.

KEY TO TACKLING EBOLA IS 'ROOTING IT OUT' AT THE SOURCE NOT SCREENING AT UK AIRPORTS, EXPERTS TELL MAILONLINE Experts told MailOnline 'shutting borders will not stop Ebola', as they say the key to tackling the vicious virus is 'rooting it out' at the source, in West Africa. Dr Ben Neuman, a virologist at the University of Reading, said: 'Shutting borders will not stop Ebola, you have to root it out.' He added: 'The longer this goes on the more likely it is we may see a case in the UK. 'But the UK deals with things like this effectively, they (the authorities) handle it. 'They are ready enough and have the capacity. There are a lot of doctors and nurses here who have been out there (to West Africa) with Doctors Without Borders, and so who have Ebola experience, which is invaluable.' A health agent checks the temperature of a passenger leaving Liberia at the Roberts International Airport near Monrovia Meanwhile Professor Robert Dingwall, a specialist in health policy responses to infectious diseases at Nottingham Trent University accused the US of 'gesture politics', by introducing temperature screening at five airports. He told MailOnline: 'Controls are costly to enforce, inconvenience people and disrupt economic activity while having little or no impact on the spread of infections.' Experts say the most effective method of tackling the outbreak is to direct resources and funds to fighting the disease in West Africa, welcoming news the UK has vowed to deploy 750 soldiers and a medical warship to Sierra Leone. Professor Dingwall said screening is ineffective because 'many diseases have a fairly lengthy incubation period and the infection cannot be passed on until the symptoms appear'. He said: 'In this case, Ebola has an incubation period of up to 21 days. 'By the time you are infectious, you are very obviously sick - and the only way to pass on infection is from body fluids. 'If someone comes off a plane with a raised temperature, it is far more likely to be a minor illness and they will not have infected anybody else on the flight. 'I would only be worried if I were in the next seat and someone started vomiting over me - but it would then be obvious that this person should be met by a medical team. 'The most useful thing the US are doing is to give incoming travellers from West Africa leaflets that might alert a busy ER medic to take them seriously. A Moroccan health worker uses a thermometer to screen a passenger at the arrivals hall of the Mohammad V airport in Casablanca Up to 750 British troops are being sent to Sierra Leone, where volunteers have been pictured picking up the bodes of Ebola victims 'You don't need a whole bunch of healthy people missing their flight connections to achieve this.' Dr Neuman echoed the sentiments, adding that those Ebola victims who pose the greatest risk will invariably, be far too ill to travel. He said an immigration officer's eyes should be enough to detect a potential Ebola patient. Dr Neuman said questionnaires designed to screen for Ebola are liable to fail, because they rely on the honesty of passengers. Referring to those questionnaires used to screen people leaving West Africa, he said: 'They are asking people a series of questions, like whether they have been in contact with any Ebola patients. 'But there is no way to tell if a person is lying, you rely on people being honest. 'They are starting to introduce temperature monitoring. But generally you can actually see if a person is that sick, you will see they are sweating and look really unwell. 'So your eyes are as effective as any temperature tests.' He said: 'It is difficult for well trained doctors to spot the signs of Ebola, which is why it usually takes at least a month before an outbreak like this can be confirmed. 'Invasive blood tests are needed to confirm an Ebola diagnosis, and ideally those tests would be carried out a couple of times over a number of days. 'That is not something that lends itself to being carried out at airports. 'On the one hand Ebola is still incredibly rare, there are one to two thousand people on Earth that have the virus. 'The majority will be so sick they cannot get up out of bed to get on a plane.' Advertisement

Royal Fleet Auxilary Ship RFA Argus is piled high with vital aid and supplies to deliver to Africa as part of UK's response to Ebola crisis

A British warship has arrived at its home port to restock with vital supplies before setting sail bound for Sierra Leone where the crew will spearhead the fight against Ebola.

The Royal Fleet Auxilary Ship RFA Argus is docked in Falmouth, Cornwall while medical supplies are loaded on board.

The high-tech casualty ship, which arrived home on Sunday, will be delivering vital aid and supplies to Africa.

Captain David Eagles said everyone on board has been warned about the virus' killer potential.

The Royal Fleet Auxilary Ship RFA Argus arrived at its home port of Falmouth in Cornwall on Sunday

Lt Susan Jeffreys prepares medical supplies on board the ship's fully equipped hospital, which boasts a critical care unit and high dependency wards

Lt Jeffreys checks the equipment ahead of the shi's voyage, setting sail on Friday, bound for Sierra Leone

She will be setting sail on Friday as part of the Ministry of Defence's pledge to provide hundreds of troops, an aviation support ship and three Merlin helicopters, as the UK ramps up its efforts to tackle Ebola.

Captain Eagles said 80 of those on board are from 820 Naval Air Squadron at Culdrose, which is also sending three Royal Navy Merlin helicopters.

The vessel will not be used to treat Ebola-infected patients, but mainly to transport supplies and to ferry personnel.

Capt Eagles said: 'We have a considerable education programme in place to reassure personnel and their families about how you actually catch the disease and that it's quite difficult to catch it.

'As we head south towards Sierra Leone will be doing a lot of training to make sure our plans are validated and we know how to deal with any emergency that may come our way.

'I'm confident we can deliver the mission successfully and safely and bring all our people safely back home.'

The high-tech casualty ship, which arrived home on Sunday, will be delivering vital aid and supplies to Africa

The ship will be setting sail as part of the Ministry of Defence's pledge to provide hundreds of troops, an aviation support ship and three Merlin helicopters, as the UK ramps up its efforts to tackle Ebola

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon laid out the measures at an emergency COBR committee meeting last week, chaired by the Prime Minister, to discuss the UK's response to the Ebola crisis, which is being led by the Department for International Development.

Mr Fallon said: 'The Ebola outbreak in west Africa is already a global threat to public health and it's vital that the UK remains at the forefront of responding to the epidemic.

'Following today's meeting we are stepping up significantly the UK's contribution and leadership in work to tackle the outbreak on land, in the air and at sea.

'At the heart of the package is the commitment to provide more than 750 personnel to help with the establishment of Ebola treatment centres and an Ebola training academy.