Kathmandu, Jan 20 (PTI) India will provide one million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Nepal under grant assistance, the Minister for Health and Population said here on Wednesday.

The first installment of the vaccines will be shipped on Thursday, according to Minister for Health and Population Hridayesh Tripathi.

The Indian government has provided one million COVID-19 vaccines to Nepal under grant assistance, he said during a press conference.

In the first phase, the vaccines will be administered to frontline health workers, employees and security personnel, according to the minister.

Nepal last week gave a conditional approval to use Oxford-AstraZeneca's Covishield vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India.

Tripathi thanked the government of India for the grant assistance and expressed hope that Nepal will get necessary help from the southern neighbour in purchasing more vaccines in the coming days to meet the country's requirements.

Nepal's coronavirus caseload has reached 268,310 while 1,975 people have died.

India on Tuesday said it will send COVID-19 vaccines under grant assistance to Bhutan, the Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Seychelles from Wednesday and supplies to Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Mauritius will commence after confirmation of necessary regulatory clearances.

Bhutan and Maldives the on Wednesday became the first two countries to receive COVID-19 vaccines sent by India under grants assistance in sync with its 'neighbourhood first' policy.

India has already rolled out a massive coronavirus vaccination drive under which two vaccines, Covishield and Covaxin, are being administered to frontline health workers across the country.

While Oxford-AstraZeneca's Covishield is being manufactured by the Serum Institute, the Covaxin is being produced by Bharat Biotech.

India had earlier supplied hydroxychloroquine, Remdesivir and paracetamol tablets, as well as diagnostic kits, ventilators, masks, gloves and other medical supplies to a large number of countries to help them deal with the pandemic.

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