Taipei, Sept. 25 (CNA) A total of 500,000 doses of the AstraZeneca (AZ) COVID-19 vaccine from Japan arrived in Taiwan on Saturday, the fifth such donation made by Tokyo to Taipei so far.

The Japan Airlines JL809 flight carrying the vaccines from Tokyo touched down at Taoyuan International Airport at 1:16 p.m.

Soon after their arrival, the vaccine doses were transported to the designated cold chain warehouse and sealed for inspection.

According to Taiwan's Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), a portion of the donated vaccines will expire on Nov. 26 and the rest will expire on Nov. 30.

Speaking at the daily CECC press briefing on Saturday, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said the latest donation was the fifth that Japan has made to Taiwan during the pandemic, bringing the total to a little over 3.9 million doses thus far.

Japan first donated 1.24 million doses of AZ to Taiwan on June 4, followed by 1.13 million doses on July 8, 970,000 doses on July 15, and 64,000 doses on Sept. 7.

In response, Taiwan's government expressed its thanks for the latest donation.

The people of Taiwan are deeply moved by this kind gesture, Presidential Office spokesman Xavier Chang (張惇涵) said, stressing the existing deep friendship between the two countries.