TUNISIA, January 30. /TASS/. The government of Tunisia has approved the use of Russian COVID-19 vaccine "Sputnik V" on the republic’s territory for one year, the republic’s health ministry informed on Saturday.

The approval was given on the outcomes of a comprehensive study of the report presented by the developer and the tests held by national institutions and experts in the sphere of virology and toxicology.

According to the health ministry, this approval will help speed up the deliveries of the Russian vaccine to the republic. Tunisia first expressed an interest in Sputnik V in early January of 2021. Currently, Tunisia is working on potential deliveries of the Russian vaccine to the country.

Earlier, the Tunisian health ministry informed that it had purchased 2 mln COVID-19 vaccine doses developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. The first batches of the vaccine are planned to be delivered to the country in late March - early April.

According to recent data, Tunisia has documented 1,678 new COVID-19 cases and 91 deaths. Since the start of the pandemic, 206,030 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in Tunisia, and 6,599 patients have died.