China has announced that it will send six lakh Covid-19 vaccine doses to Bangladesh as a gift, having earlier sent five lakh doses of its Sinopharm vaccine in the first batch.

The announcement came during a phone conversation between Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi with Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen today evening.

In a statement, Chinese Embassy in Dhaka said China pays close attention to the latest situation of the epidemic in Bangladesh.

Last week, China gifted the first batch of 500,000 doses of vaccine to Bangladesh.

"At the critical time point in Bangladesh's fight against the epidemic, China is concerned about the urgent need for vaccine of [our] Bangladeshi friends," the Chinese embassy said.

This fully reflects that China attaches great importance to the friendly relations between the two countries, it said.

"It is believed that the arrival of the second batch of Chinese gift vaccine will definitely help the Bangladeshi government and people build a strong line of defence against the epidemic."