China sent an additional one million surgical masks to South Korea on Monday, the Chinese Embassy in Seoul said, as part of efforts to help its neighbor cope with the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The stock, delivered from Shanghai, is the latest batch of relief goods Beijing has provided to Seoul via the Red Cross in support of its fight against the COVID-19.

The previous relief supplies from China included 1 million medical masks, 100,000 N95 respirator masks and 10,000 items of protective clothing.

Seoul has also promised to provide Beijing with $5 million in assistance for anti-virus efforts.

The novel virus, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December, has hit both countries hard, with China reporting over 81,000 infections with more than 3,200 deaths. Korea‘s infection tally stood at 8,961 Monday with 111 deaths linked to the virus. (Yonhap)