A ship carrying 25,000 protective suits for frontliners in the struggle against COVID-19 in Brazil sails from China today, and is due to unload them in the southern Brazilian port of Santos in a couple of months, the Brazilian government says.

The suits are a gift from ByteDance Ltd, the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs says in a social media post.

The ministry listed various other arms of the Brazilian government involved in getting the suits to Brazil.

The ministry has thanked the other Brazilian authorities, the Chinese authorities, and Brazilian and Chinese businesspeople for their help, its post says.

In April last year ByteDance Ltd, which runs the TikTok video-sharing service, promised to donate US$375 million to support efforts worldwide to counter COVID-19.