A British family firm is to ship tens of thousands of protective suits to Sierra Leone to fight the spread of Ebola as part of London-led efforts against the disease.

Based in the northern English city of Hull, Arco is to manufacture 100,000 protective suits, gloves and hoods to protect medical teams and their support staff.

Ebola protective suits: better ones coming

Britain’s Department for International Development ordered the equipment to be used in its effort to tackle Ebola in Sierra Leone, one of the three west African nations worst-hit by the disease.

The white full-body suits are a new design that aims to stop health workers feeling too hot as they treat patients, while providing the same level of protection.

“It’s got more breathability, it’s lighter weight than the current products that are being used out in Sierra Leone,” said Arco product and procurement manager Richard Sansom.

This will “allow people to work for longer and reduce the heat stress” suffered by health workers and support staff, Sansom said.

The protective gear made by the company, which specialises in health and safety services, include Wellington boots to protect the feet, respirators and full face visors.

Britain has sent 750 military personnel, a medical ship and three helicopters to combat Ebola in its former colony Sierra Leone, where 750 people have died of the disease and 2,600 cases have been confirmed.

The tropical fever has killed 4,033 people out of 8,399 infected this year, according to the World Health Organization’s latest tally, with Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone most affected.

Britain has set up dozens of treatment beds in Sierra Leone and is training health workers in a bid to halt the worst-ever outbreak of the deadly hemorrhagic fever.

Nurses in the United States have demanded the wider use of full protective suits after a healthcare worker in Texas fell sick in the first case of Ebola transmission on US soil.