China and Sri Lanka are set to deepen bilateral "vaccination diplomacy" with a leading Chinese pharmaceutical company to set up a manufacturing plant to produce covid doses in President Gotabhaya Rajapakse's home district of Hambantota.

The new factory will be set up under a contract that will allow Sri Lanka to obtain nine million Covid-19 vaccines from a Chinese pharmaceutical company, Palitha Kohana, Sri Lanka's ambassador to China, told the Hindustan Times.

Palitha Kohana said the agreement between the State Pharmaceutical Corporation of Sri Lanka (SPC) and the Chinese state-owned Sinovak Biotech was "very close to completion".

"It will be set up at a specialized pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Hambantota," the Sri Lankan ambassador said