A total of 20 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccine arrived in Dhaka from India on Thursday as a gift from the neighbouring country.

A special flight of Air India carrying the jab landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport around 11am. 

The test run of vaccination is set to begin in the country by one week with the gift vaccine. 

Health Services Division Secretary M Abdul Mannan on Wednesday said 60 lakh people would be vaccinated in the first month and they would get the second dose in the third month.

On the first day, 25 people, including frontliners, would be given vaccine at Kurmitola General Hospital, he said.

Another 500 people would be inoculated at Kurmitola General Hospital, Kuwait Bangladesh Maitree Govt Hospital and Dhaka Medical College Hospital the next day, the Secretary said, adding that the vaccination will begin in full swing after observing them for several days.

Mannan said there would be no vaccination centre outside hospitals as jab recipients will be kept under observation. “All of the vaccine recipients will be brought under the telemedicine service.”

Meanwhile, Bangladesh is going to receive the first consignment of 50 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccine from the Serum Institute of India on January 25.