MOSCOW, September 16 (RIA Novosti) - China will send additional medics to help Ebola-stricken Sierra Leone in laboratory tests, bringing the total number of Chinese doctors in the country to 174, the United Nations (UN) reported on Tuesday.
"The newly announced team will join 115 Chinese medical staff on the ground in Sierra Leone virtually since the beginning," World Health Organization (WHO) chief, Margaret Chan said in a statement, adding that the new commitment in Sierra Leone was "a huge boost, morally and operationally."
China will send 59 people from the Chinese Center for Disease Control including epidemiologists, clinicians, and nurses as a response to WHO's worldwide request for additional assistance in battling the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. According to WHO, Sierra Leone has confirmed 430 deaths from the virus so far with 34 probable deaths and 12 suspected as a result of the disease.
The 2014 Ebola epidemic is the largest in history so far killing over 2,400 people in West Africa since its outbreak in March. Cases of the virus have been registered in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Senegal.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) announced on Monday that it had opened its first Ebola treatment center with a 60 patient-capacity in Kenema, a district in Sierra Leone greatly affected by the outbreak.
The UN Security Council will convene an emergency meeting on Thursday to further discuss the Ebola epidemic.
The Ebola virus mortality rate currently stands at 53 percent. Though there is no officially approved medication for the disease several countries, including Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Japan are currently working on developing vaccines.
