[Telegraph] More than 750 British troops, along with three helicopters and a medical support ship will head to Sierra Leone to tackle the to help tackle the deadly Ebola outbreakBritannia will send hundreds of troops, a ship and three helicopters to tackle the deadly Ebola outbreak spreading through West Africa.
Troops will head to Sierra Leone as early as next week, where British military engineers and medics are already overseeing the building of an Ebola hospital.
Around 750 personnel will help set up treatment centres and an Ebola Training Academy.
The measures were decided during a meeting of the Government's Cobra emergency committee, as the Foreign Secretary said the world had to do more "to prevent what is currently a crisis from becoming a catastrophe."
The deadly virus has killed more than 3,400 people in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
RFA Argus, a medical ship with a fully-equipped 100-bed hospital on board, will be sent to Sierra Leone, along with three Merlin helicopters.
Philip Hammond, the Foreign Secretary, said the disease had now become "an unprecedented threat that knows no borders".
He said: "We have to get ahead of this disease, but if we get ahead of it, if we rise to the challenge, we can contain it and beat it. We know how to do this, it is not complicated to do, it just requires a large focus of resource and effort to deliver it."
He added: "We now need the wider international community to step up to the plate and deliver that additional resource, not just money, but trained medical and clinical personnel to lead that effort on the ground. We all have to do more if we are going to prevent what is currently a crisis from becoming a catastrophe."
Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, said: "The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is already a global threat to public health and it's vital that the UK remains at the forefront of responding to the epidemic.
"Following today's meeting we are stepping up significantly the UK's contribution and leadership in work to tackle the outbreak, on land, in the air and at sea. At the heart of the package is the commitment to provide more than 750 personnel to help with the establishment of Ebola Treatment Centres and an Ebola Training Academy. We are deploying troops, helicopters and a ship ‐ Army medics and Merlin helicopters, supported by the RFA Argus to provide direct support and reassurance."
The troops will include soldiers of the Royal Scots Borderers (1 SCOTS) based in Co Down, Northern Ireland.
Lt Col Matt Munro, commanding officer, said: "This is a challenge unlike any, but the point is that we are very well prepared. This kind of operation represents, I think, the future for parts of the British Army.
He said: "There are some peculiar threats to this operation clearly relating to the Ebola virus and of course there is a risk of soldiers from this battalion contracting the virus but it is a very low risk because there are all sorts of very practical and sensible measures that my people can employ to ensure that the risk is kept to an absolute minimum.
"And it is worth saying also that, for the most part, my soldiers have been queuing up to deploy. There are a lot of young men in the battalion very keen to go on operations. They joined the army to be challenged and to do different things and evidence of that is that very many of them want to go."