THE British nurse who survived Ebola has said he is delighted to be back in the country where he contracted the deadly virus.

William Pooley returned to Sierra Leone capital Freetown last night, where he hopes to prevent "as many unnecessary deaths as possible" from the disease.

The 29-year-old, from Suffolk, will resume work in an Ebola isolation unit today, joining other UK medical staff from King's Health Partners. He became the first confirmed Briton to contract the disease and was flown to the UK in August and treated at the Royal Free Hospital in London.

Mr Pooley said: "I am delighted to be returning to Sierra Leone to join the King's Health Partners team. I would like to once again thank the team at the Royal Free Hospital and the RAF, who provided me with such excellent treatment and support.

"But the real emergency is in West Africa, and the teams out there need all the support we can give them. I am looking forward to getting back out there and doing all I can to prevent as many unnecessary deaths as possible."

The nurse will be working at Connaught Hospital, where he will train local staff and help to set up new isolation units. He described his return to Africa to help deal with the epidemic, which has killed more than 4,500 people, as "something I need to do".

Mr Pooley was treated with the experimental drug ZMapp, and left hospital on September 3.

Meanwhile, the UK, which has committed £125 million to tackling Ebola, has put pressure on other countries to do more to combat the spread of the virus.

Prime Minister David Cameron has written to European Union leaders calling for them to double their contribution to €1 billion (£800m).

International Development Secretary Justine Greening said: "Britain is committed to helping Sierra Leone defeat this terrible disease and we are calling on the international community to ramp up its efforts."

Ms Greening added that the UK was well prepared for the few cases experts had predicted likely to occur in the country. "The risk to the UK remains low," she said.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf also called for stronger international action, claiming the virus might cause an economic catastrophe and result in a "lost generation" of West Africans.

"We all have a stake in the battle against Ebola," she said. "It is the duty of all of us, as global citizens, to send a message that we will not leave millions of West Africans to fend for themselves against an enemy against whom they have little defence."

The majority of Ebola deaths have occurred in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Eight people died in Nigeria and cases have been reported in the US and Spain.

A Spanish nurse who became the first person to contract Ebola outside West Africa tested negative for the virus yesterday.

Teresa Romero, 44, who developed the disease while treating two infected patients at a Madrid Hospital, is no longer infected, although a second test is required before she can be declared free of Ebola.

A Dallas health care worker also tested negative for the virus yesterday after spending much of a cruise holiday in isolation.

The woman works at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital where a Liberian man, Thomas Eric Duncan, was treated. She did not have contact with Mr Duncan, but may have come into contact with his test samples.

Before the ship docked in the port of Galveston, Texas, a US coastguard flew out to meet it and took a blood sample.

Two nurses who treated Mr Duncan, who died on October 8, have contracted the disease.