Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt told MPs yesterday that experts had predicted a “handful of cases” cases of Ebola in Britain over the next three months.

Mr Hunt (below) explained the phrase “handful of cases” would not have been used if it was believed the number would reach double figures in the next three months, but warned that the situation would get worse before it improved.

However, Mr Hunt could not give an exact number when challenged to reveal the “worst-case scenario” by shadow health secretary Andy Burnham.

He added the public health risk is considered to be low.

The World Health Organisation has said the Ebola epidemic is the “most severe acute health emergency in modern times.”

Enhanced screening for the virus at two of the country’s biggest airports — Heathrow and Gatwick — is due to be introduced this week.

The measures will start at Heathrow Terminal One today and be expanded by the end of next week to other terminals at the airport, plus Gatwick and Eurostar train stations.

Mr Hunt announced that calls to the NHS’s non-emergency 111 phone line would also screen for Ebola.

Call handlers on the service are to question anyone ringing up with possible symptoms of the disease about their recent travel history to see if they have been to west Africa, where the death toll has passed 4,000 people.