ULAN BATOR — Mongolia has handed over the first batch of its donation of 30,000 sheep to China, Mongolian food and agriculture minister said on Oct 22.

"Today, first 4,000 of the 30,000 sheep donated by the Mongolian people were handed over to the Chinese side via Zamiin-Uud border point," Minister Zagdjav Mendsaikhan said in a statement, adding that the remaining sheep will be given to China within the next 10 days.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak in China, representatives of various sectors in Mongolia have expressed solidarity with China in its battle against the virus.

Mongolian President Khaltmaa Battulga, the first foreign head of state to visit China since the COVID-19 outbreak, offered the donation of sheep to China during his one-day visit on Feb 27.

China has managed to contain the domestic spread of COVID-19 and mitigate the impacts of the epidemic, while its neighbor Mongolia has taken various anti-COVID-19 measures, with no local transmissions or deaths reported so far.