Nepal receives 1.3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from UK

Nepal on Monday received 1.3 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine donated under the COVAX facility from the British government, a health ministry official said.

COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access, abbreviated as COVAX, is a worldwide initiative aimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines directed by the GAVI vaccine alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and the World Health Organization, alongside key delivery partner UNICEF.

A total of 1,312,080 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines arrived in a Qatar Airways flight on Monday morning, the official said.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, Nepal reported 747 new cases of COVID-19 with eight deaths in the past 24 hours.

There are currently 20,951 active cases of COVID-19 across the country. So far, 11,900 people have died from the virus across the country. Nepal's COVID-19 recovery rate stands at 96.5 per cent, while the fatality rate stands at 1.3 per cent.