Bangladesh PM Hasina thanks Modi for COVID-19 vaccine gift

DHAKA: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has thanked her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi for sending over two million doses of COVID-19 vaccine as a gift to Bangladesh.

India on Thursday officially handed over 2 million doses of domestically produced Covishield vaccine to Bangladesh.

The vaccines were provided at a crucial time when the number of coronavirus cases in Bangladesh is rising.

"I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi for sending the vaccine (batch) as a gift," Hasina said at an online international conference held on the occasion of the 100th founding anniversary of the University of Dhaka on Thursday.

She said the government has already planned how it would proceed with the vaccine, the Dhaka Tribune reported.

"We have taken all the steps to face the COVID-19 situation in the country," Hasina said.

Apart from the current delivery of vaccines, Bangladesh is also set to purchase 3 crore doses of India-made coronavirus vaccine.

Hasina hoped that the vaccine that Bangladesh procured from India would arrive by January 25-26, the report said.

Bangladesh has so far recorded 7,966 COVID-19 deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic in March last year, while the total number of infections have surged to over 530,270.

India also handed over 1 million doses of coronavirus vaccines to Nepal on Thursday.

On Wednesday, India sent 150,000 doses of Covishield vaccines to Bhutan and 100,000 doses to the Maldives.