DAMASCUS -- The Syrian Health Ministry on Thursday received a batch of Chinese COVID-19 vaccines provided by the Red Cross Society of China.

Health Minister Hasan al-Ghabash attended the reception ceremony at the Damascus International Airport alongside Chinese Ambassador to Syria Feng Biao, as the Chinese embassy has supervised the delivery of the vaccines to the Syrian government.

During the ceremony, al-Ghabash expressed the Syrian government's gratitude to China for sending the vaccines, which he hailed as effective and successful.

"We thank the government of the People's Republic of China and the Chinese people for their important contributions in light of the spread of the COVID-19 virus in the world," he said.

"This vaccine is one of the recognized and registered vaccines by the World Health Organization and it has proven its effectiveness and success in China and in other areas which have received this vaccine," he said.

Feng said the new delivery reflects the friendship between the Chinese and Syrian people.

"Nowadays, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread around the world in tandem with the appearance of new variants of the virus, which makes it the most important duty for the world to exert efforts to counter the pandemic," the Chinese ambassador said.

Feng called on all parties to abide by scientific principles in tracing the source of the virus and oppose politicizing this issue.

In April, Syria received a batch of Chinese vaccines as part of many medical donations offered by the Chinese government to Syria to deal with the pandemic.