WASHINGTON: US troops heading to Liberia to help fight the Ebola epidemic will help train health workers but will have no "direct contact" with patients infected with the virus, the Pentagon said Friday.
The 3,000-strong contingent due to deploy to Liberia will carry protective gear, but "there's no intent right now for them to have direct contact with patients," spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby told reporters.
He said the first US military cargo plane arrived in Monrovia on Thursday as part of the US effort to help fight the epidemic, which has killed more than 2,600 people in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone this year.
"Right now, the effort does not include US military personnel treating Ebola patients," Kirby said. "We're going to be in support of other health care workers that are experts at doing this."
Kirby said a C-17 aircraft with equipment and seven service members landed on Thursday, with two more cargo planes expected this weekend carrying 45 personnel.
The small team will then set up a headquarters for Major General Darryl Williams, who will oversee the US mission to train local health workers and set up additional medical facilities, he added.
The Pentagon has requested up to one billion dollars from Congress for efforts to combat the outbreak, Kirby said.
Obama unveiled the troop deployment to West Africa earlier this week, appealing for urgent global action to prevent the virus from spreading "exponentially."
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