Nepal on Friday approved the first vaccine for containing the coronavirus pandemic that has claimed 1,948 lives in the Himalayan nation so far.

The Department of Drug Administration, in a statement, said it has cleared Covishield, a vaccine developed by Oxford/AstraZeneca that is also produced by the Serum Institute of India, for emergency use.

While the statement only mentions the vaccine's approval, local media quoted a DDA official as saying that applications have been sought from producers and importers for procuring the vaccine and starting an inoculation campaign in Nepal.

The decision to approve the vaccine coincides with Nepalese Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali's three-day official visit to India that started Thursday.

Apart from boundary issues, procurement of vaccine against the virus was on Gyawali's agenda of discussion.

Nepal confirmed its first coronavirus case in January and first fatality in May.

So far, the virus has infected at least 266,816 people in Nepal, a country of 29 million people.

==Kyodo

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