Equatorial Guinea's president has announced that the oil-rich country is to donate $2m (£1.5m) to aid its "sister nation" China as it battles the coronavirus outbreak that has so far killed 636 people.

Yet China boasts the world's second-biggest economy after the US, and its GDP of $13.6tr dwarfs Equatorial Guinea's $13.4bn.

The decision was made at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday and is intended as a show of "support and solidarity" to one of Equatorial Guinea's key trading partners.

Although Equatorial Guinea is Africa's third-biggest oil producer, more than half the population lives below the poverty line. 

Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo (L) shakes hands with China's President Xi Jinping (R) before their bilateral meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in September 2018