China donates 200,000 Covid-19 jabs to Algeria
China donates 200,000 Covid-19 jabs to Algeria
China will donate 200,000 Covid-19 vaccines to Algeria, the Chinese ambassador to Algiers said.
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A medical worker shows a Covid-19 vaccine at a hospital in Chongqing, China [Costfoto/Barcroft Media]
Beijing will gift Algeria 200,000 Sinopharm coronavirus vaccines, the Chinese ambassador to Algiers said Thursday, boosting supplies in the North African nation.
Ambassador Li Lianhe told the official APS news agency that Beijing will "continue to provide the support and necessary backing" Algeria needs.
The vaccines will arrive later in February, Health Minister Abderrahmane Benbouzid said, adding to as many as 800,000 expected through the international Covax programme.
Algeria and China are close allies, and when the pandemic started Beijing sent medical teams to help.
China has been forging strong ties across Africa through its vaccine donations, including to Equatorial Guinea and Zimbabwe.
Algeria launched its vaccination campaign in January with a first shipment of 50,000 doses of the Russian Sputnik V, and has since received 50,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Algerian authorities have said that talks are underway with their Russian allies to produce the Sputnik vaccine in Algeria.
Algeria, with a population of some 44 million, has recorded nearly 3,000 deaths from Covid-19 as well as around 111,500 infections since the pandemic began.
Among those infected was President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who was hospitalised in Germany.
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