ULAN BATOR, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a further grant of 1.5 million U.S. dollars for Mongolia to boost its medical response to the threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the bank's office in Mongolia said Friday.

The financial assistance is sourced from the Asia Pacific Disaster Response Fund, the ADB said.

"Mongolia's comprehensive response to the global COVID-19 pandemic has spared it from the public health crisis faced elsewhere in the world," said Pavit Ramachandran, ADB country director for Mongolia.

"But with the economy under strain and resources for health care stretched thin, ADB's grant funds will help meet urgent needs and deliver medical services, including reagents, diagnostic kits, pharmaceutical products, and personal protective equipment," he said.

The Asian country has managed to avoid community transmission of COVID-19 through aggressive contact tracing and strict quarantine protocols, the bank said.

This has left the economy in deep recession, contracting by 9.7 percent in the first half of 2020 with all the major forecasters expecting negative growth for the full year, it added.

Mongolia has confirmed 306 COVID-19 cases so far, with no local transmissions and deaths.