Bangladesh Health Minister Zahid Maleque said there has been significant progress in negotiations with China on importing vaccine.

“We have already signed a contract with Russia and are in talks with China. We’ll make a deal with Sinopharm soon,” he said during the virtual inauguration of an asthma centre.

On the other hand, negations were on with India to get more doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Maleque said the coronavirus infection has been showing a declining trend of late, but there should be no let-up in observing the health protocols.

“The number of patients has dropped of late. Half of hospital beds are now empty. There are many reasons. People are wearing masks these days and following the health protocol. This is a ray of hope for us,” he said.