Nepal receives first batch of AstraZeneca vaccine against Covid from Japan

Nepal received the first batch of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from Japan on Saturday, local media reports said.

Japan's envoy to Kathmandu Kikuta Yutaka handed over 05,13,420 vaccines to Nepal's Minister of Health and Population Umesh Shrestha at the country's Tribhuvan International Airport.

On Sunday evening, the vaccine's second batch will arrive in Kathmandu. The remaining half doses will be brought to the country soon, The Himalayan Times reported quoting Nepal's Foreign Affairs Ministry as saying.

Through the vaccine sharing scheme COVAX, Japan had promised to provide nearly 1.6 million doses of coronavirus vaccine to Kathmandu.

"Nepal appreciates Japan for their generous provision of life-saving vaccine to Nepal through COVAX. These Japanese-made AstraZeneca COVID vaccines will be administered to the senior citizens who are waiting for second shots of vaccines of this group," the country's foreign affairs ministry said in a press release on Saturday.

On Saturday, the country reported 2,231 new infections in the last 24 hours with the total number of cases reached to 7,12,740. Nepal has vaccinated nearly 68,02,415 people so far across the country.