09/23/2014 17:32 GMT -
HAVANA, September 23, 2014 (AFP) - The first members of a team of 165 Cuban doctors and health workers have arrived in Sierra Leone to help the fight against Ebola, a health official said Tuesday.
Jorge Perez, the director of the Pedro Kouri Institute of Tropical Medicine, told state television a small advance party had arrived in Freetown, one of the cities worst hit by the West African outbreak
They are tasked with determining exactly where in Sierra Leone the 62 doctors 103 Cuban nurses will be deployed.
The Cuban team is expected to arrive in full early in October.
It represents the largest foreign medical team from a single country that has been offered to help deal with the outbreak, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Since September 15, the group has been undergoing training at the Pedro Kouri center.
During their first week, they reviewed safety and hygiene measures and studied in detail the virus that has claimed 2,811 deaths in 5,864 cases since the start of the year, according to WHO estimates.
The Cuban team has also undergone English-language training and instruction on other hemorrhagic viruses.
Images on state television showed men trying on biohazard suits at hospital enactments.
This is the most serious Ebola outbreak since the virus was identified in 1976.
rd/wat/dc
© 1994-2014 Agence France-Presse