JAKARTA (BLOOMBERG) - Indonesia has signed an agreement with China's Sinovac Biotech for 50 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine concentrate that will allow state-owned PT Bio Farma to produce doses locally.

Sinovac will ship the concentrate in five equal stages between November and March, vaccine maker Bio Farma said in a statement on Saturday (Aug 22).

Beijing-based Sinovac also granted priority access for bulk supply to Indonesia until the end of 2021.

The government is also seeking a possible partnership with Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm Group, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said on her Twitter account on Friday.

About 150,000 Indonesians have tested positive for Covid-19, with fatalities reaching 6,500 as of Aug 22, Johns Hopkins University data shows.

Bio Farma will increase its manufacturing capacity to 250 million doses by the end of the year from about 100 million now, the company said.

The Covid-19 vaccine concentrate will require a series of tests and should be registered with the Indonesian Food and Drug Monitoring Agency before mass production.