Over 200,000 COVID-19 vaccines administered in single day
COLOMBO – Sri Lanka’s health authorities administered the highest number of vaccines in a single day on Monday (12) with 232,526 people, including school teachers and non-academic staff, being inoculated, the Health Ministry was quoted by local media as saying on Tuesday (13).
According to official figures from the Epidemiology Unit, 173,988 doses of the Sinopharm vaccines were provided as the first dose on Monday, while 40,276 doses were administered as the second dose.
Also, 180 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines, 13,357 doses of the Sputnik V, and 4,725 doses of the Pfizer vaccines were administered.
The Health Ministry said to date, Sri Lanka had administered over four million first doses of coronavirus vaccines across the country.
Sri Lanka is presently facing a third wave of COVID-19 with authorities warning of a spread of the Delta variant.
The country has to date recorded 276,106 patients since the first local patient was detected in March last year while 3,533 deaths have been reported.
Meanwhile, authorities on Monday began administering the Sinopharm vaccines to teachers and non-academic staff across the country, with an aim to re-open schools as soon as possible.
Minister of Education G.L. Peiris, who attended one of the vaccination centres in Colombo, along with several other ministers and Army Commander Shavendra Silva, said they hoped to complete vaccinating teachers, principals, and non-academic employees within a week.
Peiris said, under the program, arrangements have been made to vaccinate all employees of 10,155 schools in the country.
Health authorities said following the arrival of a batch of Sinopharm vaccines on Sunday (11) morning, adequate doses had been distributed to the respective districts to begin vaccinating teachers.
– Xinhua