Britain is to create three new laboratories in Sierra Leone, to help monitor the spread of the deadly Ebola virus.
The Government has pledged £20 million in funds to build, run, and staff the facilities which will be primarily used to test blood samples and swabs.
The laboratories will also be used to give the all clear to patients who survive the virus, which has killed nearly 5,000 people across West Africa.
The first of the new facilities opened last week in Kerry Town, doubling the testing capacity of the West African country.
The laboratories that are currently being built will open at UK treatment centres in the towns of Port Loko and Makeni.
Their construction is being overseen by UK Royal Engineers and it is expected that once established, the labs will quadruple the amount of tests that can be carried out every day.
It is also hoped that the new labs will allows test results to be obtained in as little as 24 hours, compared to the current five day period.
Around 50 volunteers from the NHS, Public Health England universities and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory will arrive in Sierra Leone to operate the laboratories.
Justine Greening, the International Development secretary said that tackling Ebola at the source is key to beating it and stopping the spread.
She added: ‘Some of Britain’s best and brightest scientists will be at the forefront of our UK-funded testing facilities, ensuring that people with Ebola are isolated and then treated as soon as possible.’
Dr Tim Brooks, a leading Ebola scientist, said: ‘These new labs will be crucial in helping us to separate the people who have Ebola from those who have malaria or other treatable diseases, only made possible through the £20 million in funding.’
The announcement of the new laboratories comes just after it was revealed that another doctor in Sierra Leone has been diagnosed with the virus.
Dr Godfrey George is the medical superintendent of Kambia Government Hospital in the north of the country and was diagnosed with Ebola after being driven to Freetown, having reported that he was not feeling well.
