Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Wednesday morning welcomed a batch of 600,000 doses of Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines donated by the Chinese government as it landed at the Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake, Sri Lanka. 

At a handover ceremony following the arrival, ambassador of China to Sri Lanka Qi Zhenhong said the vaccines are a token of the friendship between the two countries. 

The president expressed gratitude to China for the aid. "Thank you! people of #china for prioritizing #lka in this battle against #COVID19 pandemic," he tweeted.