BAGHDAD — The Chinese government has donated 50,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Iraq, the Chinese embassy in Baghdad said on Feb 4.

In a statement posted on its Facebook page, the Chinese embassy said that the friendly step by the Chinese government came to "help Iraq overcome the COVID-19 pandemic as soon as possible".

"The Chinese side maintains close communication with the Iraqi side over the delivery of the vaccines," the statement said.

It also recalled the cooperation between China and Iraq to confront the pandemic in 2020, as both sides "exerted their utmost efforts to overcome difficulties together".

Iraq expressed condolences and sent support to China in various ways after the outbreak of the pandemic in China. Then, China sent in early March 2020 a team of experts to help Iraq improve its national plan to control the pandemic and share experience and ideas, the statement said.

China also helped build a PCR lab and install a CT scanner in Baghdad, in addition to donating about 50,000 COVID-19 test kits, 1.4 million masks, protective clothing, and other pandemic protective materials as humanitarian aid, according to the statement.

Moreover, the Chinese companies in Iraq "donated large quantities of medical supplies to institutions and communities in Iraq, and a few days ago, the Chinese government delivered 56 ambulances, 200 generators, and other humanitarian aid items to the Iraqi Ministry of Interior", it added.

The statement came about two weeks after the Iraqi Ministry of Health announced that the Iraqi National Board for Selection of Drugs had approved the emergency use of China's Sinopharm vaccine, along with the approval of the AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, to contain the spread of the COVID-19 in the country.