GATWICK airport is due to start screening for Ebola by the end of next week.

The monitoring, including temperature checks and a questionnaire, should ensure 89% of people traveling to the UK from west Africa are checked, said health secretary Jeremy Hunt, after revealing the deadly virus is expected to reach the UK.

He said checks would take place at Heathrow's Terminal 1 before they are expanded to cover Gatwick airport and Eurostar rail terminals as the death toll in west Africa reached more than 4,000 people.

Mr Hunt told MPs it was “likely” that Ebola will be seen in the UK and a “handful” of cases could be confirmed in the next three months.

In a statement to the House of Commons, Mr Hunt said: “Playing our part in halting the rise of the disease in west Africa is the single most important way of preventing Ebola affecting people in the UK.

“Whilst there are no direct flights from the affected region, there are indirect routes into the UK.

“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.”

Mr Hunt said current advice suggested there will be fewer than ten cases of Ebola in the UK over the next three months.

But he refused to give an exact number when challenged to reveal the “worst case scenario” by shadow health secretary Andy Burnham.

“I do believe we are amongst the best and most prepared countries in the world,” Mr Hunt added.