Polish President Andrzej Duda has talked with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping about buying the Chinese COVID-19 shot, his aide told state-run news agency PAP on Monday, as the country looked for ways to speed up vaccination of its residents.
Zimbabwe will receive 200,000 free doses of China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said on Thursday, after China and Russia offered shots against the coronavirus to the impoverished southern African nation.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been vaccinated with a coronavirus vaccine developed by China's Sinopharm, Orban announced on his official Facebook page on Sunday as the country tries to accelerate its vaccination programme.
By Reuters Staff
(Adds deal terms, background)
TOKYO, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Japanese drugstore firms MatsumotoKiyoshi Holdings and Cocokara Fine Inc said on Friday they agreed to fully merge, after forming an alliance last year to cope with fierce price competition and rising labour costs.
MatsumotoKiyoshi had bought 20% of Cocokara Fine for 38.4 billion yen ($362 million) last year, and had also flagged an eventual full merger.
Under the latest agreement, each share in Cocokara Fine will be exchanged for 1.7 in MatsumotoKiyoshi. Cocokara Fine shares are due to be delisted on Sept. 29, they said in a joint statement.
The companies said their combined scale of around 3,000 shops and more than 1 trillion yen in sales will help with logistics costs and give them greater leverage in purchasing supplies. ($1 = 106.1700 yen) (Reporting by Ritsuko Ando; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
Hungary expects to get 1 million doses of Chinese Sinopharm's vaccine in March and April in total, with 3.5 million more doses arriving in May, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's chief of staff said on Thursday.