At a time when Nepal continues to reel under the effects of a serious health crisis amid a dearth of oxygen and few vaccine supplies and faces over 7,000 daily infections and more than 150 deaths, on May 26 Xi Jinping, the President of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), announced that China would provide one million additional doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Nepal under grant assistance.
Chinese President Jinping announced this much-needed vaccine support during a telephone conversation with Bidya Devi Bhandari, the President of Nepal, according to a statement issued on May 26 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nepal. During the conversation, the two dignitaries exchanged their views on the overall bilateral relationship focusing on the COVID-19 related cooperation.
It is of note that earlier in March this year, China provided 800,000 doses of Sinopharm’s BBIBP-CorV vaccine to Nepal.
Stating that Nepal is looking forward to purchasing vaccines manufactured in China for its people, President Bhandari said, “I appeal to the government of PRC to make the vaccines available for procurement as soon as possible.”
Confirming that China had already provided urgently needed medical supplies including vaccines to Nepal, Chinese President Jinping said, “China will continue supporting as much as possible Nepal’s fight against COVID-19.” The Nepali people will gain a final victory over the disease, he added.
- According to the Ministry of Health and Population of Nepal, a total of 6,677 new cases were recorded on May 26, and 6,716 people recovered from COVID-19 in this period
- As many as 37 positive infections were confirmed through antigen tests in this period bringing the total cases traced from both RT-PCR and antigen tests to 6,714 cases
- At the same time, another 145 COVID-19 related deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours in Nepal
- So far, the total COVID-19 death toll in Nepal has reached 6,845 and the number of infection cases nationwide stands at 535,525
- A total of 1,139 infections were recorded in Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal, together with 241 cases in Lalitpur and 113 cases in Bhaktapur (two other districts of Katmandu valley) in the last 24 hours
- 19,352 tests were carried out in the last 24 hours consisting of 19,030 PCR tests and 322 antigen tests
- The total number of COVID-19 PCR tests in Nepal so far stand at 2,977,650
Nepal’s active case count now stands at 117,077 - So far, a total of 411,603 individuals have recovered from COVID-19
- The recovery rate from COVID-19 in Nepal stands at 76.9%
- A total of 853 individuals are currently quarantined across the country
President Bhandari thanked the government of PRC for its continued support to Nepal in its fight against COVID-19 by providing life-saving medicines, medical equipment, and supplies. Appreciating President Xi’s public announcement that anti-COVID-19 vaccines should be global public goods, President Bhandari also thanked China for earlier providing Nepal with eight hundred thousand doses of anti-COVID vaccines. She also requested the help of the Chinese Government in procuring COVID-19 vaccines from China.
Acknowledging the difficulties Nepal has been facing due to the second wave of the pandemic, Chinese President Jinping expressed the full support of his Government to Nepal in its fight against COVID-19.
