Thirty Korean military and civilian medical workers are flying to Ebola-hit Sierra Leone next month. The first group of four doctors and six nurses will leave on Dec. 13, according to government officials.
The medics will first fly to the U.K. for training and then work with British and American medical personnel at a British clinic near the Sierra Leonean capital of Freetown starting Dec. 29.
The 30 volunteers will leave in three groups.
According to the World Health Organization, some 15,000 people have been infected with the deadly virus since March, and about 5,400 of them have died. Sierra Leone is the second hardest-hit country after Liberia, where 6,190 people have been infected and 1,267 died.
Korea and the U.K. are to evacuate any Korean medics who contract Ebola to a hospital in Europe.
Oh Young-ju from the Foreign Ministry said this is not for fear of spreading the infection to Korea but because infected medical personnel would be in danger on the long flight to Seoul.
Only nine countries are sending medics to Ebola-hit countries, and Korea and China are the only Asian countries so far, according to the ministry.
