US hands over 1.5 mn doses of J&J vax to Nepal

People line up at a border check point to enter India, at Nepalgunj border town, in Nepal. Pic/AP/PTI

Nepal on Monday received 1.5 million doses of the Johnson and Johnson (J&J) Covid-19 vaccines from the US.

The US Ambassador to Nepal, Randy Berry handed over the vaccine package to Nepal's Health Minister Krishna Gopal Shrestha at the Tribhuvan International Airport here earlier in the day.

"This is a gift from American people, this to protect the lives of 1.5 million people," Berry said. "We are not getting any concessions behind donating these vaccines, there is no interest attached and this is purely a humanitarian action."

Nepal had earlier received 1.8 million Covid vaccines from China and 1.1 million from India under the grant assistance.

Similarly, 348,000 vaccine doses was also donated under the COVAX initiative to Nepal in April.

NZ PM to chair APEC Covid meet

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Monday that she will chair a meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders focusing on the Covid-19 pandemic and its economic effects. The meeting will take place on Friday, reports Xinhua news agency. "This is the first time in APEC's history that leaders have held an extraordinary meeting at leaders' level, and it reflects our desire to navigate together out of the Covid-19 pandemic and economic crisis," said Ardern.

3,97,892
No. of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours

18,69,69,976
Total no. of cases worldwide

40,34,450
Total no. of deaths worldwide

Source: WHO/Johns Hopkins

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