On March 29, a batch of Chinese COVID-19 vaccines developed by Sinopharm was delivered to Nepal. "The Chinese vaccine will be inoculated among people starting from Wednesday," Jageshwor Gautam, spokesperson for the health ministry, told a press conference. "Those involved in essential services, students studying in China under the Chinese government scholarship but are currently stuck in Nepal due to pandemic, Nepali students preparing to leave for China for higher studies and people involved in cross-border trade between Nepal and China will be inoculated with the Chinese vaccine." According to the ministry, essential workers include the people who are working in postal and telephone services, water supply and distribution, hotels and restaurant, public transportation services, electricity supply, storage and transportation of consumer goods, sales and distribution of medicines and the health workers who had missed out in the first phase of the vaccination drive that began on January 27.