South Korea plans to send a smaller-than-expected team of medical workers to Ebola-hit Sierra Leone this weekend as the epidemic shows signs of easing, Seoul's foreign ministry said Monday.

Seoul initially planned to send 11 healthcare workers for its third and final batch, but a military medical team consisting of two doctors and three nurses will be dispatched instead to the West African country on Feb. 7, according to officials.

The move will make the total number of medical workers sent to 24, instead of 30. South Korea has so far sent 19 in two batches to an Ebola treatment center in Goderich, near capital Freetown.

The decision came as Seoul has accepted a recommendation from Emergency, an Italian non-government agency in charge of the Ebola center, as new cases of the disease have been on the decline, according to the foreign ministry.

The number of fresh infections came in at 65 in the third week of January in Sierra Leone, down from 337 in the same period of December last year, the government said.

Seoul's third team of medical workers will kick-start a four-week operation from Feb. 23 after undergoing training.

An official at the foreign ministry added that Seoul also sent a set of tablet PCs and electronic stethoscopes last week to Emergency to help treat Ebola patients.

South Korea has joined global efforts to fight Ebola by sending medical workers and offering a combined $12.6 million in assistance. The virus is estimated to have killed more than 8,700 people since the outbreak in December 2013, according to the World Health Organization. (Yonhap)