The Chinese government has decided to donate 100,000 doses of the coronavirus vaccine developed in China.

The Chinese Ambassador to the Maldives, Zhang Lizhong revealed the decision on Thursday via a tweet, in which he said that China’s decision to aid 100,000 doses of the vaccine to the people of the Maldives has been informed to the Maldives government.

The ambassador added that arrangement discussions are currently underway to ensure early arrival of the vaccines.

Minister Shahid also confirmed the new via a tweet, saying that he had met with the Ambassador of China today, who informed him that China will donate 100,000 vaccines to the Maldives.

He had also thanked China for the generosity.

China has developed two vaccines for the coronavirus, these are Sinopharm and Sinovac. It remains unclear as of yet which vaccine will be donated.

Maldives have already received 5,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine, and are currently waiting for approval by the MFDA. Dr. Nazla Rafeeq previously highlighted that after the necessary research and investigation, the Maldives Food & Drug Authority (MFDA) will approve the vaccine to be given in the Maldives.

While vaccinations are now ongoing in the Maldives, currently 'Covishield' developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca is being used. These were 100,000 doses that were donated by India.

The Maldivian government has reached an agreement with AstraZeneca to buy 700,000 additional doses, which are likely to arrive within March.