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In Yaounde, the capital city of Cameroon, Chinese doctor An Buyue wakes up early to prepares for the day's work.
As chief of a 20-member medical team from north China's Shanxi Province, she barely had enough sleep in a day in certain periods.
Working overtime has become a routine for the medical team, which is in Cameroon for a one-year foreign aid mission.
An told Xinhua in a telephone interview that the team began to offer training sessions on COVID-19 prevention and control for the Yaounde Gynaecology, Obstetrics, and Pediatrics Hospital on February 4.
"We explained the etiologic feature, clinical manifestation, and therapeutic method of the disease, and suggested the hospital adopt strict measures like preview and triage when receiving patients," said An.
She noticed that the director of the hospital studied their epidemic prevention and control recommendations.
Soon after that, their recommendations such as putting up anti-epidemic awareness posters, setting up a fever clinic, and maintaining social distance in the hospital were adopted.
An said other Chinese medical teams in Africa have also participated in fighting against the pandemic alongside their African peers.
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases across the African continent surpassed 232,815 as of Sunday, according to the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
The death toll stood at 6,244 as of Sunday morning, according to the center.
Chen Haiyun, chief of a Chinese medical team to Togo, said they have participated in disease prevention work in the country, including offering COVID-19 prevention and control training to the regional health center of Lome-Commune.
An said in the face of a shortage of protective supplies, members of the Chinese medical team used to wear expired masks while treating outpatients. She added that luckily, none of the Chinese doctors in Cameroon have been infected.
With an improvement in domestic epidemic prevention and control situation, China has increased medical assistance to other nations in need.
On April 3, An's team received a batch of epidemic prevention materials dispatched by the Chinese National Health Commission. Soon after that, the second and the third batches of medical supplies were sent to Chinese medical teams in Africa.
"We really can feel the strength of our country. Now that our safety is ensured, we can focus more on protecting locals in Africa," said An.
China set up its first medical team to provide aid to foreign countries in 1963. According to the National Health Commission, China had sent more than 26,000 medics to 71 countries and regions in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Oceanian by the end of 2019, providing diagnosis and treatment to over 280 million local patients.
