Algeria is set to receive its first doses of Covid-19 vaccine on Friday and begin immunisation on Saturday, the communication minister has said.

The country will receive the Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine and says other doses from China and India are expected later.

The elderly and health care workers are among first recipients of the vaccines.

The immunisation is set to begin in the province of Blida.

The country's President Abdelmadjid Tebboune is still in Germany where he is being treated for complications arising from his coronavirus treatment last year.

The country has recorded 106,359 cases of coronavirus including 2,877 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Algeria had said it would share Covid-19 vaccines with its neighbouring nation Tunisia that has been affected severely as well, news agencies reported.