An expert team dispatched by the Red Cross Society of China arrived in Iraq on March 7 to support the Middle Eastern country's fight against COVID-19.

The team flew from Guangzhou, Guangdong province, to Baghdad in a chartered plane sent by the Iraqi transport authority, bringing with them virus testing kits, traditional Chinese medicines and other medical devices and equipment.

The seven team members come from the Guangdong branch of the Red Cross Society of China, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, DAAN Gene Co of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies and Shanghai United Imaging Healthcare Co.

As the team leader, Tao Zhongquan, from the Guangdong branch of the Red Cross Society of China, said they would stay in Iraq for a month to assist the Iraqi government to curb the epidemic, with the tasks including testing, treatment and follow-up work, Xinhua News Agency reported on March 7.

Iraq had reported 46 confirmed novel coronavirus cases by March 7, including four deaths, with the outbreak happening in multiple places, according to the Red Cross Society of China.

During the early stage of the epidemic in China, the international community provided help in different forms through various channels, said Chen Zhu, president of the Red Cross Society of China.

With the epidemic in China having been brought gradually under control and confirmed case growth in other countries, the emergency humanitarian aid provided by the Red Cross Society of China indicates China's resolution for meeting the challenge jointly with the international community and the close friendship between China and related countries, Chen said.

Ai Hexu, an Arabic teacher at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies who works as a translator for the team, said he was honored to contribute to the global fight against the epidemic with his professional knowledge.

The help to Iraq indicates both China's shouldering the responsibility as a major country and its actual practice in seeking a common shared destiny of mankind, Ai said.

Earlier, a team of five Chinese experts sent by the Red Cross Society of China arrived in Iran on February 29 to assist the work in epidemic control.

Meanwhile, 3,600 boxes of Yinhuangqingfei capsules, a TCM, donated by Hunan Anbang Pharmaceutical Co and valued at 150,000 yuan ($21,646), arrived in Teheran, Iran, on March 5.

The medicine is recommended in the third edition of the plan for treating novel coronavirus patients in Hunan province.

It was donated upon the call for it from Iran's embassy in China on March 3, with English instructions provided, according to Hunan Daily.

Iran's embassy in China expressed gratitude on its Weibo account on March 5 for the donations from Chinese people after it issued the channels for donations on March 4.

A Chinese charity foundation launched a project for helping Iranian people in the fight against the epidemic, with its second shipment of goods arriving in Teheran on March 5.

The Chinese embassy and Chinese companies in Iran donated 250,000 masks and 5,000 virus testing kits on February 25 and 26. Ma Yun, founder of Alibaba Group, donated 1 million masks to Iran on March 6.