Bangladesh is expecting to get three crore doses of COVID-19 vaccine from India in January in the first phase, health minister announced on Sunday.

Health Minister Zahid Maleque said “The government is procuring SARS-Cov-2 AZD 1222 (Oxford/Astrazeneca Vaccine) through Serum Institute as it has proven both safe during trial in different countries and is  also suitable for our weather.”

He said the rest will arrive within six months and under the plan the first lot will reach Bangladesh by mid-January.

Dhaka is also in talks with Astrazeneca for purchasing its vaccine.

A deal was signed on Sunday between the Bangladesh government  and the private BEXIMCO Pharmaceuticals in Dhaka for procuring the Covid-19 vaccine. Earlier, the BEXIMCO, Serum Institute of India Pvt Limited and the government inked a deal.

With the arrival of the Winter season, new cases and deaths from COVID-19 have been increasing.

Bangladesh on Sunday recorded 32 Covid-19 deaths and  1,355 new cases in the past 24 hours, the health office said in a statement.

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