China to donate 1.6 million more doses of Covid-–19 vaccines to Nepal

KATHMANDU: China will donate an additional 1.6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Nepal, the foreign ministry here said on Friday.

The announcement was made by Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Hou Yanqi, who paid a courtesy call to newly-appointed Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Friday, according to a press release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Ambassador Hou also conveyed to Deuba that China will continue its support to Nepal to combat COVID-19 pandemic.

"Prime Minister Deuba thanked the Chinese government for this vaccine support and expressed hope that China will enhance its support to Nepal for both COVID-19 response and recovery," the Foreign Ministry said.

"During the meeting, various matters pertaining to Nepal-China relations were discussed," it said.

China had earlier provided 1.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines as a gift to help Nepal in its fight against the virus.

Nepal started its vaccination drive with the 1 million doses of Covishield, the AstraZeneca type vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, which were gifted to Nepal by the Indian government.

Of the 2 million doses Nepal bought from the Serum Institute, only 1 million doses were shipped.

Nepal reported 2,006 new coronavirus cases and 43 related deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the country's virus caseload and death toll to 664,576 and 9,506 respectively.