LONDON,
Queen
Elizabeth II will pay tribute in her annual Christmas Day broadcast on
Thursday to the "selflessness" of medical staff and aid workers fighting
the Ebola epidemic.
She will say how
"deeply touched" she was by the volunteers who have gone to work in
areas affected by the deadly virus, according to extracts released ahead
of the broadcast.
"I have been
deeply touched this year by the selflessness of aid workers and medical
volunteers who have gone abroad to help victims of conflict or of
diseases like Ebola, often at great personal risk," the 88-year-old
queen will say.
The virus has killed more than 7,500 people, the vast majority in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.
ALTERNATIVE MESSAGE
People
caring for the sick or handling the bodies of people infected with
Ebola are especially exposed to the virus and 365 healthcare workers
have died, most of them local staff.
A
British health worker who survived Ebola will be delivering his own
message to the nation after being chosen to give Channel 4's
"Alternative Christmas Message".
William
Pooley, a nurse who decided to return to Sierra Leone after receiving
treatment in Britain, will call for greater global action against the
virus.
"I don't want to make you feel
guilty but I would like you to think just for a few minutes about what
you could do to help," the 29-year-old will say in a message filmed at
Connaught Hospital in Freetown.
"This is a global problem and it will take the world to fix it. What a wonderful Christmas present that would be."
The
queen's message is an annual event, broadcast on BBC television and
radio after lunch, and watched by millions of people in Britain and
across the Commonwealth.
It is one of the few speeches that she writes herself, rather than with government ministers.
ACTS OF LOVE
For
the past two decades, independent television station Channel 4 has
selected a figure in the public eye to deliver an alternative message,
which is broadcast after the queen.
US
whistleblower Edward Snowden gave the message last year, and previous
speakers included Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and French
animal rights campaigner and actress Brigitte Bardot.
The
Archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual leader of the Anglican faith,
also highlighted the horrific nature of the Ebola outbreak in his
Christmas message, noting how it was spread by people touching each
other.
It was "striking people down
above all when they exhibit their deep compassion for the human dignity
of others through touching and holding them, or through washing their
bodies after death", Justin Welby noted.
"The acts of love have become the means of infection and death," he said.
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