For China, the Ebola outbreak is a chance to demonstrate its commitment to Africa, the continent in which it is the largest investor. For a group of Chinese doctors from the elite 302 military hospital in Beijing who arrived in Sierra Leone’s capital last month, it is also a chance to test their skills against an unfamiliar foe.

China has had little experience with international medical deployments, although disasters at home, such as the Sars outbreak in 2003 or the Sichuan earthquake that killed nearly 80,000 people in 2008, have helped build the country’s emergency response systems.

A joint military-civilian medical team has converted the Sierra Leone-China Friendship Hospital near the capital Freetown into a diagnostic centre with quarantine wards. Patients who test positive for Ebola are supposed to be transferred to nearby treatment centres, but delays in transport and overcrowding elsewhere mean the Friendship Hospital is now also treating some patients.