(Updated) China to give Nepal 1 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines

Kathmandu, May 26

Chinese President Xi Jinping has announced to give Nepal one million doses of Covid-19 vaccines as grant.

He made the announcement during a telephone conversation with his Nepali counterpart Bidya Devi Bhandai this afternoon, according to Chinese Ambassador to Nepal, Hou Yanqi.

Earlier, Nepal had received 800,000 doses of Vero Cell vaccines as grant from China.

(Updated at 5:30 pm)

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Nepal requests China to ease Covid-19 vaccine export

Kathmandu, May 26

Nepal’s President Bidya Devi Bhandari has telephoned her Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Wednesday afternoon and asked him to facilitate Nepal’s purchase of Covid-19 vaccines from its northern neighbour.

The President’s Office says Bhandari and Xi talked for around 40 minutes, during which Bhandari said, “Our first responsibility is to save Nepali people’s lives. Therefore, we are interested to purchase vaccines from China. I would like to request Your Excellency to facilitate this.”

In response, Xi reportedly said he would talk about the concerned officials.

The president’s communications expert Tika Dhakal says the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will soon make public details of the meeting.

After failing to receive vaccines from India, Nepal is currently making efforts to purchase Covid-19 vaccines from other parts of the world. It has repeatedly urged the US and the UK for support.