The Chinese Ministry of Emergency Management has sent a 65-stong party to Mozambique to support the search-and-rescue effort after the recent cyclone there, to give medical treatment and to take measures to prevent the spread of disease, Xinhua reports.

The Chinese government-run news agency says the Mozambican government asked for help, the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee the Chinese State Council granted it, and that the mission left Beijing yesterday.

The report says it is first such mission abroad since the ministry was set up last March.

By Sunday Cyclone Idai had killed 446 people in Mozambique and disrupted the lives of 500,000, Xinhua says.

Separately, the China Daily reports that the Chinese authorities sent about 20 tonnes of emergency supplies to Mozambique on Sunday.