CHISINAU, April 30. /TASS/. A second batch of the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine granted by the Russian government as a humanitarian assistance has reached Moldova.

The plane with the vaccine from Moscow was welcomed at Chisinau’s international airport on Friday by Moldovan parliament speaker Zianaida Geceanii, leader of the Party of Socialists Igor Dodon, and Russian Amvassador to Moldova Oleg Vastentsov.

"This is the batch with 71,000 doses of the Sputnik V second component," Greceanii told journalists at the airport and thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for Russia’s assistance.

Vaccination with Sputnik V will begin in Moldova on May 4. Greceanii and Dodon said they would get inoculated with the Russian vaccine.

Russia decided to grant 182,000 Sputnik V doses, including 62,000 doses for the unrecognized Transnistrian republic, after Greceanii’s request. The first batch of 71,000 doses arrived in Moldova last week. Apart from that, Moldova is in talks with Russia on possible purchase of more than 700,000 vaccine doses.

By today, Moldova has received more than 500,000 vaccine doses via the international COVAX platform an under bilateral agreements with the Russian, Romanian, and Chinese governments. Along with Sputnik V, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Sinopharm vaccines are being used in Moldova.

According to Moldova’s government, the country, with its population of around 3.4 million people, including Transnistria, will need around 4.8 million vaccine doses for both shots to inoculate about 70% of the population.

Since the pandemic outbreak, more than 250,000 coronavirus cases (7.1% of the population) have been confirmed in Moldova. The coronavirus death toll stands at more than 5,700. More than 1,900 people are currently undergoing treatment against Covid-19.