Nepal received more than 3 million doses of Vero Cell and Covishield from China and India, respectively on Monday.
As many as 1,870,500 doses of Covishield, the India-made AstraZeneca type vaccine, through COVAX facility, along with 1,201,887 doses of the China-made Vero Cell vaccine purchased under a cost-sharing scheme arrived at the Tribhuwan International Airport yesterday, informed the Ministry of Health and Population.
The Vero Cell doses are part of the over 5.9 million doses of the vaccine purchased through COVAX’s cost-sharing mechanism using a loan from the Asian Development Bank.
Similarly, the Covishield jabs are part of the 6 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine COVAX has committed to Nepal.
Nepal so far has received 34,267,477 doses of Vero Cell, AstraZeneca, Janssen, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.
So far, 9,646,720 people (31.8 percent of total estimated population) have been fully immunized in the country.
Health authorities on Monday diagnosed 218 cases of coronavirus infection in the country, including 129 in Kathmandu valley. Of those testing positive for the contagion in the valley today, 89 are from Kathmandu, 33 from Lalitpur, and seven from Bhaktapur.
Of the others diagnosed with the disease, 11 were from Kaski, nine from Morang, eight from Chitwan, six each from Dhanusha and Baglung, five each from Syangja and Rupandehi, four each from Kavrepalanchowk and Kailali, three each from Jhapa, Makawanpur, Gorkha, Tanahun, and Nawalparasi (East), two each from Mahottari, Sindhupalchowk, and Arghakhanchi, and one each from Ilam, Khotang, Saptari, Dhading, Parbat, Myagdi, Banke, Salyan, Achham, and Kanchanpur.
The number of active COVID cases in Kathmandu valley is 1,896 — 812 in Kathmandu, 596 in Lalitpur, and 488 in Bhaktapur.
Kathmandu and Lalitpur are the only districts in the country with more than 500 active COVID cases.
Similarly, one COVID patient died on Monday, taking the death toll due to the respiratory contagion in the country to 11,574 at a case fatality rate of 1.4 per cent, the Health Ministry said.
