China to help Sierra Leone set up Ebola lab

The Chinese government will help Sierra Leone set up an Ebola laboratory and an Ebola holding center, said Dr. Wang Yu, director general of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, over the weekend here.

The lab and the holding center will be based at the Sierra Leone-China Friendship Hospital in the outskirts of capital Freetown, said Wang, who was leading a nine-member experts team visiting here.

The experts team, who arrived in Freetown on September 2, called on Sierra Leonean President Ernest Bai Koroma and newly appointed Health Minster Abu Bakarr Fofanah over the weekend.

Wang said that China will soon airlift a mobile lab to Sierra Leone and that China will also work with the west African country to select a site for the establishment of a level-three bio-safety laboratory. The Sierra Leonean president explained to the Chinese experts the measures taken by his government to contain the epidemic as well as the challenges.

Koroma thanked China for the timely and exigent assistance to his country by dispatching medical personnel and providing materials.

The president expressed belief that with the help from China and other international development partners, Sierra Leone is set to put the Ebola epidemic under control as quickly as possible.

The Chinese experts also visited Sierra Leone's two Ebola prevention and treatment centers, which are still under construction, and met with representatives from the World Health Organization and other international agencies.

In the west African country, 426 people have died out of 1,276 confirmed cases in the Ebola outbreak, according to data released by the Ministry of Health on Sunday.