A test for the Ebola disease has been carried out on a woman passenger who died after arriving in the UK from The Gambia.
The Department for Health said the test on the elderly woman, who landed at Gatwick, came back negative on Sunday afternoon, the BBC reported.
Some 728 people have died of Ebola in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone this year, in the worst-ever outbreak of the disease.
The woman, believed to be in her early 70s, had been a passenger on a Gambia Bird flight that arrived at Gatwick on Saturday morning.
She collapsed at the airport and was later pronounced dead in hospital.
A Department of Health spokeswoman said the passenger’s symptoms had not suggested she was an Ebola victim but the test was carried out because she had travelled from West Africa.
Dr Brian McCloskey, director of global public health at Public Health England, said: “There was no health risk to other passengers or crew, as the passenger did not have symptoms during the flight.
“It was considered very unlikely to be a case of Ebola but testing was done as a precaution, and was negative.
“The correct procedures were followed to confirm there was no reason to quarantine the airplane, the passengers or staff. PHE can confirm there was no public health risk around the sad death of this individual.”
The Ebola virus spreads through human contact with a sufferer’s bodily fluids.
Initial flu-like symptoms can lead to external haemorrhaging from areas like eyes and gums, and internal bleeding which can lead to organ failure. The current mortality rate is about 55%.
Public Health England says the risk to the UK remains very low.