Nepal on Wednesday received 1.3 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from France and Italy.

The French government has sent 685,400 doses of Vaxzevria (AstraZeneca), reads a statement issued by the French embassy in Nepal. “France has made Covid-19 vaccine dose-sharing one of its priorities to accelerate worldwide equitable access to safe and efficient vaccines.”

Italy donated 663,600 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine which also arrived on Wednesday.

With this, Nepal so far has received 43,398,640 doses of vaccines, including the AstraZeneca, Vero Cell, Moderna, Janssen and Pfizer-BioNTech types.

Minister for Health and Population Birodh Khatiwada thanked France and Italy for their donation of the 1.3 million doses of vaccine.

“This is an example of the friendship that exists between Nepal and EU member states,” said Khatiwada. “As the entire world is grappling with the Covid-19 crisis, a collective effort is the only solution. Together, we all will prevail.”

French Chargé d’Affaires a.i. Ms Leela Devaradjalou noted that France extends its solidarity to Nepal in the latter’s fight against the health crisis.

“Closing the vaccine gap is a moral imperative,” said Vincenzo De Luca, the ambassador of Italy to Nepal. “Italy has been at the forefront of the response to Covid-19 and is committed to further increasing its efforts. We stand in solidarity with Nepal in the common fight against the virus”.

Nepal needs to vaccinate around 26 million of the little over 29 million population, as around three million are children under five years of age. Authorities had decided to inoculate children between five and 11 years but no deal has been reached so far to purchase vaccines for them.

So far, 13,243,577 people—or 43.6 percent of the total population—have been fully vaccinated. The Health Ministry said that 264,891 people have taken booster shots as of Saturday.

On Wednesday, 8,454 people tested positive—5,571 in 13,549 polymerase chain reaction tests and 2,883 in 6,810 antigen tests.

In the last 24 hours, five people died from Covid-19. Active cases stand at 90,067 as of Wednesday.