China will provide one million Covid vaccines to Nepal under grant assistance, Chinese ambassador to Kathmandu Hou Yanki announced after Nepal President Bidhya Devi Bhandari had a telephonic conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping. 

Taking to Twitter, Yanqi said Chinese President Xi Jinping has announced that China will provide one million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Nepal under grant assistance.

Nepal President Bhandari on Wednesday held an hour-long conversation with Xi, and the former said that Nepal was looking forward to purchasing Covid-19 vaccines from Nepal. Importantly, the talks between the top leaders of the two countries came at a time when Nepal is having a caretaker government as parliament was dissolved last week. 

The Covid-19 situation has exploded in Nepal in the last few weeks, with the country reporting over 8000 daily infections amid collapsing health infrastructure. Earlier, at the request of the Nepali government, Beijing rushed 20,000 oxygen cylinders to cope with increased oxygen demand. 

China has stepped up its efforts in providing Covid assistance to South Asian countries ever since India started looking inwards, focussing on its own crisis at home. Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan all have received vaccines in grant assistance from China. 

(SAM)