FOREIGN Office (FCO) officials are investigating reports that a British national has died in Macedonia of suspected Ebola.

If confirmed it would be the first death of a UK national from Ebola, although British nurse Will Pooley was cured of the deadly virus last month.

The news came as Downing Street said enhanced screening for Ebola will be introduced at Heathrow and Gatwick Airports and Eurostar terminals following advice from the Chief Medical Officer.

An FCO spokesman said: "We are aware of the reports and are urgently looking into them."

Mr Pooley, from Suffolk, became the first Briton to contract the virus after working as a volunteer nurse in Sierra Leone, which is one of the worst-hit countries of the current outbreak.

He was flown back to Britain on August 24 and recovered after being treated in an isolation unit at London's Royal Free Hospital.

Meanwhile, new enhanced screening techniques will be introduced for passengers travelling from the main Ebola affected regions in west Africa - Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea - to give Britain an additional level of protection from the deadly virus.

The tests will involve assessing passengers' recent travel history, who they have been in contact with and onward travel arrangements as well as a possible medical assessment conducted by trained medical personnel.

Contingency planning is also under way including a national exercise to make sure the country is fully prepared.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said: "Enhanced screening will initially be implemented at London's Heathrow and Gatwick Airports and Eurostar terminals and will involve assessing passengers' recent travel history, who they have been in contact with and onward travel arrangements as well as a possible medical assessment, conducted by trained medical personnel rather than Border Force staff. Passengers will also be given advice on what to do should they develop symptoms later.

"As the Chief Medical Officer's advice makes clear, these measures will help to improve our ability to detect and isolate Ebola cases. However, it is important to stress that given the nature of this disease, no system could offer 100 per cent protection from non-symptomatic cases."

The advice of the Chief Medical Officer, Professor Dame Sally Davies, said it was right to consider further measures to make sure potential cases of Ebola are identified as quickly as possible in the UK.

She said: "Although the risk to the UK remains low, in view of the concern about the growing number of cases, it is right to consider what further measures could be taken, to ensure that any potential cases arriving in the UK are identified as quickly as possible. Rapid access to healthcare services by someone infected with Ebola is not only important for their health but also key to reducing the risk of transmission to others.

"These measures could include a further UK-based package of measures to identify and assess the health status of passengers arriving from the affected countries and to ensure that those individuals know what to do should they be taken ill whilst in the UK."

The announcement follows confusion over whether the Government was introducing screening or not, amid calls for tests to be implemented after the United States put in place similar measures.

Chancellor George Osborne had said screening would be introduced if medical experts deemed it necessary.

"If the medical advice is we need to screen - it might well be - then we will absolutely take that action," he told BBC News earlier.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health had insisted it had no plans for screening, while Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said the existing Government policy was in line with World Health Organisation (WHO) advice that exit screening was more effective.

A statement on the DoH website, now removed, had said: "The overall risk of Ebola to the UK remains low. Entry screening in the UK is not recommended by the World Health Organisation, and there are no plans to introduce entry screening for Ebola in the UK."

The introduction of tests follows calls for ministers to follow the lead of the United States which implemented screening at some airports.