Britain to Send Military & Humanitarian Experts to Fight Ebola in Sierra Leone

London (Reuters/NAN) – The British government said it would send military and humanitarian experts to Sierra Leone to set up a medical treatment centre there to care for victims of the Ebola outbreak.

Britain took the decision after 11 major companies pressurized the international community to step up the fight against the worst outbreak of the disease.

Justine Greening, International Development Secretary, said on Monday in London that the 62-bed facility would be built and operated by British military engineers and medical staff near Freetown.

He said the initial phase would be operational within eight weeks.

The scale of the problem requires the entire international community to do more to assist the affected countries,’’ he said.

Greening said that the epidemic in West Africa, the worst since the disease was discovered in 1976, had killed more than 2,100 people in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Nigeria and had also spread to Senegal.

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