Chinese COVID-19 vaccines are unloaded from a plane at the international airport in Damascus, Syria, April 24, 2021.(Photo: Xinhua)

 

Boxes of Chinese COVID-19 vaccines are unloaded from a plane at the international airport in Damascus, Syria, on April 24, 2021.(Photo: Xinhua)

 

Workers carry boxes of medical equipment donated by China for fighting the COVID-19, in Damascus, Syria, on June 24, 2020.(Photo: Xinhua)

 
Syria on Saturday received a batch of COVID-19 vaccines donated by the Chinese government to help combat the pandemic.

Syrian Health Minister Hasan al-Ghabash and Deputy Foreign Minister Bashar al-Jaafari, as well as Chinese Ambassador to Syria Feng Biao, attended the reception ceremony at the international airport in the Syrian capital Damascus.

Boxes of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccines were unloaded from the plane transporting them from China at the airport.

Al-Ghabash said the long cooperation between China and Syria was crowned with the delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine, "which has passed the three testing phases and has been proven to be effective and safe."

The minister also expressed gratitude and thanks to the Chinese government for their ongoing support to Syria and the distinctive relations, which he hopes to continue for the interests of both countries and peoples.

For his side, Feng said that sending the vaccines to Syria is a tangible step in delivering on the China's promise to make the Chinese vaccine a global public product.

"We are confident that it will help Syria to build a defense line against the pandemic and play a positive role in protecting the Syrian people and restoring normal life," the Chinese ambassador said.

Before this donation, China had already provided batches of medical supplies to Syria and held online meetings attended by medical experts from the two countries to share China's anti-pandemic experience since the COVID-19 outbreak in Syria last year.

Syrian health officials said the priority of the vaccination in Syria will be for the medical workers and elderly people, as well as those suffering from chronic illnesses.

The COVID-19 cases in Syria are on the rise amid the third wave of the pandemic. Syrian Health Ministry said that the total number of COVID-19 cases in the country hit 21,999 on Saturday, including 15,731 recoveries and 1,526 deaths.