There is a strange separateness in the country, a new apartheid of Ebola. It manifests itself at an individual level in the enforced physical separateness of individuals, but also an apartheid between the new wave of international visiting aid workers and the Sierra Leonians, or nationals as they are referred to in a rather depersonalised manner.

International staff are under strict orders to minimise contact with nationals. So public transport is forbidden, even taxi rides.

I’m used to the white people in African countries driving around in large 4x4s, but here it is an absolute separation in transport. International staff are told to stay in their compounds - no early evening walks into town or mingling in shops or restaurants. They are prisoners in the country they have come to liberate.

Everyone is habituated into the endless routines of chlorine hand washing, but for the international staff personal hygiene has reached Howard Hughes levels of obsession with bottles of alcohol gel carried like silver crosses to ward away this invisible vampire.

There is little evidence that Ebola hangs around on surfaces for long - probably just a few hours. But this uncertainty is enough to sow a seed of fear that rapidly consumes your daily routine, and I find myself against my rational nature reflexively avoiding unknown foreign surfaces, towels. Even money becomes potential vehicle for transmission in my over-heated mind.

Today Chris and I have our first visit to an Ebola Centre. Rachel Cummings, the Health Advisor from Save The Children, gives us an expert guided tour and we see care in full action.

Its an impressive show, and she emphasises that it is a full hospital in all but name. They have had a stormy time over the last few days, having been open nearly a month and yet had only 25 patients through their doors.

Its an impossible position for them - with Cuban clinicians, UK management, WHO oversight and DfID funding. The flashbulbs of the UK media are on them and impatient for news about how they have single-handedly eliminated Ebola. I am glad we are away from the media spotlight.

There is so much for us to learn from their first few weeks as we tour and observe.

My takeaway list includes:

1) Start with confirmed cases only, otherwise we will be swamped with demand

2) Start slowly and work up to full capacity while we test our clinical processes and safety

3) Cold drinking water for staff. We watch them being decontaminated and undress - soaked with sweat and exhausted after less than an hour in the red zone

4) Prepare everything - IV packs, bloods, drugs etc, before we enter the red zone - reduce risk of needlesticks etc while in PPE

5) Clocks on every wall to keep a close track of time - like divers under water

6) We need to develop methods of communication between the red and green zones - they use walkie talkies, but not ideal.

7) Lots of photos of ward layouts to we can replicate the templates in Moyamba

8) Protocols for children - especially where the mother dies under care. Rachel describes a recent case where the mother was admitted late stage and died, but her infant son by some miracle was negative.

Now we have a model that we can work towards and we take our photographs back to base to plan.

MORE BLOG POSTS FROM PROFESSOR JOHN WRIGHT