China sends $5 mn aid, experts to West Africa to fight Ebola
August 9, 2014, 4:31 pm

Keiji Fukuda, assistant director-general for health security of the World Health Organization (WHO), speaks during a press conference at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, Aug. 8, 2014 [Xinhua]

China’s CCTV reported on Saturday that the Chinese Ministry of Commerce will send emergency humanitarian aid worth nearly $5 million to countries in West Africa battling Ebola.

China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) said it will step up vigilance against the virulence of the virus. No Ebola case has been detected in China so far, the NHFPC said.

The WHO has warned of the consequences of a possible international spread of the outbreak of Ebola.

China’s NHFPC spokesperson Mao Qun’an said on Saturday in Beijing three expert teams will go to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to provide technical assistance to local health authorities in prevention and control of the deadly virus.

Last week, a Chinese medical team comprising nine doctors, nurses and staff announced they would remain in Liberia to assist the government which has called for a state of emergency as it battles an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus,

The team, which first arrived in Liberia in 2013 as part of a Chinese medical and scientific engagement with Africa, says it will take all necessary precautions to ensure its staff do not contract the virus.

The virus has killed almost 1,000 people so far in four African nations and affected 1711.

Ebola is an incurable disease with a 60 to  90 per cent fatality rate. Symptoms first include headaches, severe fever, throat and muscle pains. This is followed by vomiting and diarrhea. The virus spreads from animals to humans and infection can quickly spread through contact with bodily fluids – even sweat.

 TBP and Agencies