Scottish authorities say a healthcare worker who has just returned from Sierra Leone has been diagnosed with Ebola and is being treated in a Glasgow hospital.

The Scottish government says the patient flew to Glasgow via Casablanca and London's Heathrow Airport, arriving late Sunday.

The health care worker was admitted to a hospital on Monday morning.The only previous case of the often-fatal disease in Britain was William Pooley, a nurse who contracted the disease while patients in Sierra Leone. He recovered after treatment in London and returned to West Africa.

Since an Ebola outbreak began in December 2013 in the West African country of Guinea, there have been nearly 20,000 cases and more than 7,500 deaths, mostly in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.