Hospitals in east Kent are well prepared to deal with cases of ebola, it has been claimed today.

The East Kent Health Trust’s emergency planning manager made the assurances as staff in hazard suits were spotted on the grounds of the Kent and Canterbury hospital this afternoon.

Peter Johnson moved quickly to dispel any fears of an imminent risk on the site, but said there are “robust plans” in place should one occur.

He said: “Every year we run a number of training exercises where we try and re-enact specific scenarios.

“What patients saw today was a drill. We were running a chemical scenario for a situation where we would have contaminated self-presenters to our hospital site.

“With ebola, we’re keeping a very close eye on the situation, especially now there are reports of it in Spain.

“We have comprehensive plans in place to deal with any patients that might come through our doors and I’m confident we’d be able to respond to any ebola cases in east Kent.

“We have to have these plans in place as we can't predict what eventuality will happen in the future.”

More than 3,000 people are thought to have died as a result of the ebola epidemic since it began in December last year, most of them in west Africa.

As part of a new Department of Health policy to tackle serious viruses like ebola, patients presenting signs of the disease in east Kent would be isolated at hospitals in Canterbury, Ashford and Thanet.

Once local staff have ruled out malaria, the patient would likely be transferred to a specialist unit in London.