The National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) said a team of Chinese disease control experts aiming to help prevent and control the Ebola virus left for Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone on Aug 10, and another team will leave on Aug 11.

Ministry of Commerce (MOC) spokesman Sun Jiwen said emergency humanitarian supplies are also expected to arrive on Aug 11 or 12 after they were airlifted from Shanghai on Aug 10.

Mao Qunan, an NHFPC spokesman, said the experts will do their utmost to provide technical support to the three African nations, such as sharing China’s experience in dealing with serious epidemic breakouts.

Chinese experts will help train local medical workers and assist Chinese embassies in these countries to distribute medical supplies, said Sun Hui, one of the experts.

Three Chinese medical teams from Beijing, Heilongjiang and Hunan are already working in these African nations, and the new teams of experts will also train staff and assist local doctors, Sun said.

Additionally, they will offer advice to Chinese nationals in the three countries on how to protect themselves against the disease.

The MOC started preparing relief supplies after the government announced on Aug 7 that China would provide relief worth 30 million yuan to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. The MOC spokesman said the supplies include medical protective clothing, disinfectant, thermo-detectors and medicine.

The virus has claimed nearly 1,000 lives in West Africa, mostly in these countries.

The World Health Organization warned on Aug 8 that Ebola is now a “public health emergency of international concern” and called for a coordinated international response to stop and reverse the international spread of the disease.