Russian planes with medicine head for Ebola-hit Guinea

Two Russian planes carrying medicine and hospital equipment left the southwestern city of Sochi to Ebola-hit Guinea on Sunday morning, the Defense Ministry said.
"The first two Antonov An-124 cargo aircraft of the Russian Air Force with a field hospital and medicine have departed from Sochi for Guinea's Conakry international airport," the Tass news agency quoted Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the ministry, as saying.
"Both planes are carrying more than 150 tons of medical and special equipment for the deployment of a field hospital, including intensive care and intensive therapy wards as well as special diagnostic laboratories," he added.
On Saturday, Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said the president had asked Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to send a well-equipped field hospital to Guinea at the Guinean side's request.
The latest Ebola epidemic mainly swept the West African countries of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, and has since spread to the United States and Europe.
The World Health Organization said on Friday that 5,177 people had so far died of Ebola across eight countries, out of a total 14,413 cases of infection, since late December 2013.