China will continue to provide aid to African countries to battle Ebola, and hopes the international community will take more effective measures to help these countries overcome the epidemic.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang made the remark in a daily news conference on Thursday, after China announced it will provide emergency aid to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and several other African countries, and work with the World Health Organization and the African Union to fight the disease.

China has always followed closely the development of Ebola in Africa and has actively lent support in tackling it, Geng said, adding that China was among the first to provide aid since the epidemic broke out in West Africa in 2014.

China's assistance to Africa is an important part of the healthcare initiative, one of the eight initiatives China proposed at the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in September 2018, Geng said.

China and Africa have always been a community with a shared future, and it's the duty of China, a major developing country and a sincere friend of Africa, to support African countries in fighting Ebola, the spokesman said.

Currently 46 Chinese medical teams consisting of about 1,000 people are working in 45 African countries.