He immediately got in touch with factories and companies producing personal protective equipment, disinfection materials and test kits.

Many people he reached were "very supportive", and provided the goods and materials free of charge. "They knew that if the virus spread wildly overseas, it would in turn place huge pressure on China," Wang said.

Since March 5, another nonprofit social organization, the China-Arab Exchange Association, has donated eight aid packages to Iran worth a total of more than 2 million yuan ($282,000).

Chen Xinhui, the association's secretary-general, said, "Iran sent a military aircraft to help us fight the virus when it heard about the outbreak (in China). So, when we saw the same thing happen to Iran, we thought of helping them.

"The biggest difficulty we faced was a shortage of materials. Although the outbreak in China has basically been under control since March, there was still a gap between production and supply."

Chen and his colleagues raised a considerable amount of aid, including various types of personal protective equipment, detection reagents and disinfectant.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Seyed Abbas Mousavi said the first consignment sent to Iran by the Chinese government and the Red Cross, which included about 20,000 coronavirus test kits and other supplies, reached the country on Feb 28.

On March 14, Mousavi said, "The process of receiving generous assistance from people in China is continuing, and at present, a large amount of aid－about 32,000 kilograms of various supplies－h(huán)as been packed and is going to be shipped to Iran on the next flights."

The Communist Party of China's International Liaison Department has sent a shipment of medicine, N95 respiratory masks and disposable face masks to Iran.