The Cambodian government on Sunday received the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines donated by the Chinese government.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Wang Wentian attended a handover ceremony that was held at the Phnom Penh international airport on Sunday afternoon, shortly after the donations arrived.

Cambodia was among the first batch of countries to receive vaccine donations from China.

According to ambassador Wang, some of the 600,000 doses to Cambodia are donations from the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA).

Cambodian Ministry of Health authorized the emergency use of the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday, saying that "the vaccine is used safely in China and other countries."

The vaccines will be provided free-of-charge to people who are at a high risk of getting infections such as medics, teachers, armed forces and taxi drivers, among others.