COVID-19: 800,000 doses of Chinese vaccine arrive in Nepal

Amid Nepal reporting a shortage of COVID-19 vaccines, a consignment of 800,000 doses from China landed in Kathmandu on Tuesday. The vaccine and syringes were airlifted from Beijing to Kathmandu by a chartered flight of Nepal Airlines Corporation.

This development comes after Chinese President Xi Jinping announced one million doses for Nepal on May 26 during the telephone conversation with Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari, out of which 800,000 have arrived. 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nepal said the remaining 200,000 doses of the vaccine are being provided to Nepal by the Government of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. 

“Accordingly, 50,400 doses of the vaccine and syringes have been handed over to the officials of the Ministry of Health and Population this morning, and another batch of 50,400 vaccines and syringes is scheduled to arrive in Kathmandu this evening,” Nepal Foreign Ministry said in a statement. 

The ministry has confirmed that the consignment of remaining 99,200 vaccines and syringes will arrive in Kathmandu tomorrow.

In March, China had provided 800,000 doses of Vero Cell vaccine to Nepal. Nepal had also received a million shots of AstraZeneca vaccine from India.  Nepal had begun its vaccination drive in January, but the campaign has been suspended due to lack of vaccines.

President Xi Jinping during the conversation with President Bhandari had said China attaches great importance to the development of China-Nepal relations and is willing to share China's development opportunities with Nepal to accelerate Belt and Road cooperation, steadily advance the building of the trans-Himalayan Multi-Dimensional Connectivity Network, and continuously lift the two countries' strategic partnership of cooperation featuring ever-lasting friendship for development and prosperity to higher levels.

“Nepal attaches great importance to its relations with China, firmly adheres to the one-China policy, firmly supports China in safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity and will never allow any forces to use the Nepali territory for any anti-China activities,” said the China’s Foreign Ministry. 

Earlier in the day, Nepal also received 1500 oxygen cylinders under the grant assistance from the Chinese government. Along with this, 527,500 KN95 face masks were also received from the China Cultural Media Group.