2nd Chinese medical team leaves for DR Congo for Ebola response

The second Chinese medical team departed from Beijing on Friday for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to support the central African country in responding to the Ebola outbreak.

The DRC declared the current Ebola outbreak in mid-May. Ebola cases in the DRC have risen to 1,460, including 447 deaths, authorities said Thursday. Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director General Jean Kaseya said Thursday in Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC, that the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the country is "very serious".

The five-member expert team comprises specialists from the National Health Commission (NHC), the General Administration of Customs, Huashan Hospital affiliated with Fudan University, and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

All these members have extensive experience in public health, clinical treatment, infection prevention and control, laboratory testing, and epidemiological quarantine.

"Following the outbreak of this round of Ebola, we immediately provided emergency humanitarian assistance to the African Union and the DRC for free, and also dispatched an expert team. We will continue to do what we can to make positive contributions to international anti-epidemic cooperation," said Gu Zhiqiang, director of the Division for African Affairs (Foreign Assistance) of the Department of International Cooperation of the NHC.

In line with local epidemic prevention and control needs, the Chinese medical professionals' work focuses on technical exchanges covering early case identification, severe case treatment, and multidisciplinary collaboration, aiming to strengthen local capacity for Ebola response.

"The main challenges in Ebola treatment are early identification and the management of severe cases. Once a patient develops severe symptoms, multidisciplinary collaboration is essential to provide life support. Only by doing so can we significantly reduce the case fatality rate," said Wang Xinyu, deputy director of the infectious diseases department at Shanghai-based Huashan Hospital.

The first Chinese medical team has been working in the DRC for over a month and is about to complete its assigned mission.

Apart from building on the work of its predecessor, the second team will further deepen cooperation in public health science and technology, facilitate collaboration between Chinese institutions and African health facilities, and provide more public health goods to the international community.

"In response to the African side's expectations for cooperation in public health science and technology, we hope to facilitate the signing of agreements between Chinese institutions and medical facilities in the DRC and Uganda," Gu said.

2nd Chinese medical team leaves for DR Congo for Ebola response

Iran's main military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, on Thursday warned that any U.S. interference in the Strait of Hormuz will be met with the Iranian armed forces' "decisive and swift" response.

In a statement carried by Iranian media, the headquarters stressed that the strait is not the "aggressive U.S. playground", but the territory of Iran's "undisputed sovereignty", with its security and stability considered a red line for the Iranian military.

It stressed that all oil tankers and commercial vessels seeking to pass through the strait must use routes designated by Iran, warning that any non-compliance and use of other routes, or disregard for Iran's navigation protocols, will face the Iranian armed forces' "immediate and decisive" response, and endanger the violating vessels' safety.

The headquarters said that Iran considers any U.S. attempt to interfere in security affairs or cause disruption in the Strait of Hormuz as a threat against its national security, and will respond to it "swiftly and decisively."

It emphasized that the continued presence of U.S. manned and unmanned fighter aircraft over the waterway will cause insecurity, adding that Iran will not hesitate to take the necessary actions to "crush any aggression" by the U.S. forces and their supporters to protect its sovereignty over the strait.

Iran has tightened its grip on the strait since Feb 28, 2026, when it barred safe passage of vessels belonging to or affiliated with Israel and the United States following their joint strikes on Iranian territory.

Iran warns of response to any U.S. interference in Hormuz Strait