SPAIN SETS UP SPECIAL EBOLA CRISIS COMMITTEE

Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy has set up a special committee to deal with the impact of Europe’s first case of Ebola.

Rajoy admitted that the situation was “complex and difficult”, but stressed that the government had a clear plan of what needed to be done.

Spanish nurse Teresa Romero is said to be gravely ill, after catching the haemorrhagic fever while caring for patients brought from West Africa.

The outbreak has killed more than 3,860 people, mainly in West Africa.

More than 200 health workers are among the victims.

Ebola is now entrenched in the capitals of the worst-affected states – Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the World Health Organisation says.

Speaking outside Madrid’s Carlos III hospital, where the 44-year-old Spanish nurse is being treated, Rajoy said: “Our first priority is Teresa Romero – she is the only person that we know has the illness”.

The prime minister said the second key task was to find others who might have caught the virus and investigate how this happened.

He was speaking as seven more people in Spain were being monitored in hospital for suspected Ebola.

They include two hairdressers who came into contact with Romero.

The nurse’s apartment in Alcorcon, near Madrid, has been sealed.

Notices outside the complex announce an ongoing deep-clean by emergency services, the BBC’s Lucy Williamson in Madrid says.

On the driveway, there is a message of sympathy and hope, and a small scattering of candles can be seen, our correspondent adds.

Romero is believed to have become infected after touching her face with the glove of her protective suit while taking it off.