MINSK, May 8. /TASS/. Another batch of Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine produced in Belarus has successfully passed quality control testing in Russia, the Belarusian Health Ministry said on Saturday.
"The three-week laboratory trials of next series of Sputnik V vaccine, which were produced by the Belmedpreparaty enterprise, have been completed at the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology. The vaccine has passed quality control," the statement says.
The Health Ministry added that another 358,000 first doses of the vaccine were shipped to the Belfarmatsia enterprise, which delivers the vaccine to regions.
In the past 24 hours, Belarus reported 1,369 single-day coronavirus cases. To date, the country has confirmed 367,674 COVID-19 cases, 358,261 recoveries and 2,622 deaths. Over 301,100 Belarusians have received the first shot, and more than 178,700 have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
On October 1, 2020 Belarus started testing Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine on volunteers as part of its post-registration trials. Belarus was the first foreign state to issue a registration certificate for the Russian vaccine. Belarus has set up a joint production of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V. In February Belarus received 100,000 doses of the vaccine produced by the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm.
On May 7 Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that the country had developed its own coronavirus vaccine. The Health Ministry explained that the Belarusian vaccine is inactivated and its technology allows adjusting it to different strains of the virus.