Ebola and Marburg: returning workers scheme (RWS)
Advice for people returning to the UK after working in an Ebola or Marburg virus affected area.
All workers returning from areas affected by Ebola or Marburg virus should be risk assessed by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
About the scheme
The Returning Workers Scheme (RWS) applies to any organisation that has UK resident staff who have been or will be deployed to areas affected by Ebola or Marburg virus, in response to the outbreak. This includes humanitarian and healthcare organisations that are sending workers to situations where they might be directly exposed to Ebola or Marburg virus.
The UKHSA RWS was established in November 2014, as part of arrangements to protect and monitor the health of those who travel to Ebola affected areas for their work. This scheme now forms part of the UK arrangements to support and monitor the health of those who travel to high consequence infectious disease affected areas for their work, once they are back in the UK.
To ensure that UKHSA is able to establish prompt and efficient screening arrangements, and can provide organisations with regular updates and guidance we ask that:
- organisations deploying workers in Ebola or Marburg outbreak affected areas register with the UKHSA returning workers scheme, in advance of travel wherever possible
- once registered, organisations should provide UKHSA with the travel details of all staff (paid or unpaid) returning from Ebola or Marburg affected areas, in advance of their arrival into the UK
Current outbreak areas
The RWS is currently active for the following outbreaks:
MarburgvirusdiseaseinKageraregion,Tanzania- Sudan ebola virus disease in Kampala, Uganda
Register for the scheme
Contact returningworkersscheme@ukhsa.gov.uk to find out more about the scheme and to register.
There is separate information available about registering with the scheme for clade I mpox.
Further information about Ebola or Marburg
See Viral haemorrhagic fevers: epidemiology, characteristics, diagnosis and management.
Updates to this page
Published 22 July 2015Last updated
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Update to reflect active outbreaks of ebola and Marburg virus disease.
Update history
2025-04-28 16:03
Updated the ‘current outbreaks’ section
2025-03-14 11:40
Removed the inclusion of Marburg virus disease in Kagera region, Tanzania from the list of outbreaks for which the RWS is currently active.
2025-01-31 14:40
Update to reflect active outbreaks of ebola and Marburg virus disease.
2025-01-23 16:32
Updated the Current outbreak areas section about the Marburg outbreak.
2025-01-22 09:30
Updated with information about the Marburg virus disease outbreak in Tanzania.
2024-12-27 11:48
Updated the ‘current outbreaks’ section.
2024-10-16 17:02
Changes in language to align with returning worker scheme page for Mpox.
2024-10-03 17:37
Updated information.
2024-10-01 17:13
Updated with information about Marburg virus disease outbreak in Rwanda.
2023-06-13 15:50
Updated Current outbreak areas section.
2023-04-13 09:30
Updated information on current Marburg-affected areas.
2023-01-12 16:58
Updated information on current Ebola-affected areas.
2022-11-14 17:08
Updated information on current Ebola-affected areas.
2022-10-24 17:51
Updated information on current Ebola-affected areas.
2022-10-12 11:46
Updated information on current Ebola-affected areas.
2022-10-03 16:21
Updated information on current Ebola-affected areas.
2022-09-30 10:07
Updated to reflect end of Ebola outbreak in DRC.
2022-09-21 15:29
Updated information on current Ebola-affected areas.
2022-08-30 10:00
Updated information on current Ebola-affected areas.
2022-04-25 12:54
Updated information on current Ebola-affected areas.