Chinese jab supplies keep flowing to countries in need

MINSK－An aircraft carrying Chinese COVID-19 vaccines arrived at Minsk International Airport on Friday, and they were later handed over by China's Ambassador Xie Xiaoyong to Belarusia's Minister of Health, Dmitry Pinevich.

The latest arrival of Chinese vaccines not only reflects the high level of relations between China and Belarus, but also testifies to the strong friendship between the two peoples, Xie said in a handover ceremony.

Since 2020 the fight against the pandemic has become a key area of Chinese-Belarusian collaboration, and the two countries have helped each other and exchanged expertise in prevention, epidemic control, diagnosis and treatment, Xie said.

Pinevich expressed his deep gratitude to China and said Belarus and China recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, and that the two work closely in various fields, including healthcare.

Chinese vaccines are highly reliable, and Belarusia's health ministry will distribute the vaccines delivered to various medical institutions as soon as possible, he said.

The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Belarus had reached 722,939, including 1,791 new cases and 17 more deaths in the previous 24 hours, official figures showed.

Ethiopia effort boosted

On Thursday the Chinese government donated an additional 2.2 million doses of Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines to Ethiopia.

A handover ceremony was attended by senior Ethiopian government officials and members of the Chinese diplomatic community in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

China has donated about 7 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Ethiopia, and it is playing a crucial role in combating the virus, Ethiopia's health ministry said.

As part of its commitment to make its vaccines a global public good, China is playing a crucial role in terms of vaccine accessibility and affordability in developing countries.

China has supplied more than 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to more than 120 countries and international organizations, making it the country that has supplied the most vaccines to the world by the end of last year, media reported.

Xinhua