The second batch of South Korea's Ebola response team returned home Monday after completing their one-month relief mission in Sierra Leone, the foreign ministry said.
The team of four doctors and five nurses was sent to the African country late last month to replace the country's first Ebola relief team, which had completed their one-month mission.
The medical workers were in charge of examining and treating Ebola patients at a treatment center in Goderich, near Sierra Leone's capital of Freetown.
After flying back to South Korea later in the day, the returning second team will be put under three-week quarantine at a local facility before being sent home, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
All of the team members have been cleared in Ebola infection tests, the ministry noted.
"The international community has highly regarded South Korea for dispatching the emergency Ebola relief team, which greatly contributed to lowering the number of Ebola patients in Sierra Leone," the ministry said in a statement.
The government will continue to participate in the global efforts to deal with the post-Ebola situation, it also added.
Meanwhile, the final and third batch of five medical workers will kick off their four-week relief mission in Sierra Leone on Monday, officials said, adding that South Korea will wrap up their Ebola relief dispatch to the African country when the third team returns home next month.
To join global efforts to fight the deadly epidemic, South Korea has offered a combined $12.6 million in assistance.
According to the World Health Organization, the highly infectious virus is estimated to have killed more than 9,000 people since its outbreak in December 2013. (Yonhap)
