NANNING, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- A medical team from south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region will head to Niger and Comoros this month to assist with their battles against COVID-19, said the regional health commission.

The 48-member team, which consists of staff from hospitals in Guangxi's 12 cities, will provide medical services for local residents and assist with anti-epidemic measures during their 18-month stay.

Ou Chunhong, deputy director of the disinfection center of the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, will be heading to Niger for the second time. She is leaving on Tuesday with her husband Tao Weiqi, a doctor from the Second Nanning People's Hospital, as the first group to Niger.

"During my first mission in Niger in 2017, I found the people there were in need of medical care and depended on the Chinese medical team. So I chose to go there for a second time," said Ou.

"It's medical workers' duty to help fight the pandemic," Tao said.

Guangxi has dispatched 656 medical staff to Niger and 139 to Comoros since the region sent its first medical team to Niger in 1976.