The Dutch public health institute RIVM has warned family doctors to be on the look-out for symptoms of the deadly Ebola disease but says the chance of it arriving in the Netherlands is ‘extremely small’.

The AD reports on Wednesday that doctors have been told to ask all patients arriving at their surgeries with temperatures where they went on holiday. Local health boards and medical specialists have also been urged to remain alert.

Travellers from countries where Ebola has been identified have been checked on arrival at Schiphol airport since last week and asked about possible contacts.

Passengers on flights to and from Nigeria are also being given leaflets with warnings about the disease, spokesman Jaap van Dissel told the paper.

Ebola is only infectious if people display the symptoms but has an incubation period of up to three weeks. While cases in the Netherlands cannot be ruled out, the likelihood is ‘extremely small,’ Van Dissel said. ‘And the chance of the disease spreading in the Netherlands is virtually zero.’