Azerbaijan will begin vaccinating citizens against Covid-19 on Monday, using a batch of four million doses from China's Sinovac Biotech Ltd, the health ministry said.

“Medical workers will be vaccinated first, and then over-65s from Feb 1,” presidential aide Shahmar Movsumov added.

The doses will be transported first to Turkey, he said, where they will be checked and packaged, before arriving in batches to Azerbaijan.

A further rwo million vaccine doses from various producers are expected to reach Azerbaijan via the World Health Organization's COVAX programme, the main global scheme to vaccinate people in poor and middle income countries around the world against the coronavirus, Reuters reported.