Peru receives 1st batch of COVID vaccines from China

Peru received its first batch of Sinopharm vaccines on Sunday, amid a second wave of COVID-19 infections there. An Air France plane transported the 300,000 jabs, which are reserved for health workers, from Beijing to Lima via Paris.

Speaking from the airport after the plane landed, Peruvian President Francisco Sagasti, who will be the first to be vaccinated - said his government was "fulfilling the commitment" it made to fight the pandemic.

A second shipment of 700,000 Sinopharm doses - is set to arrive on February 14. Peru has bought 38 million doses from the Chinese pharmaceutical company. Peru has recorded more than 1.1 million infections and over 42,000 deaths from COVID-19.