AFGHANISTAN: Afghanistan received half a million doses of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine from India Sunday, the first consignment to arrive in the country that was hit hard by the virus last year.
Kabul plans to ultimately cover 60 percent of the population and was working with international agencies like the World Bank, Asian Development and the European Union to procure more jabs.
In August last year a Health Ministry survey revealed that 10 million people -- nearly a third of the country's population -- had been infected with the coronavirus.
The country of 32 million people has limited testing capacity, but recent months have seen a decline in new infections, with officials registering about 55,300 confirmed cases so far and about 2,400 deaths.
Meanwhile, China delivered 600,000 doses of its Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine to Cambodia on Sunday, making the kingdom the latest country to use Chinese jabs despite concerns about their efficacy compared to Western alternatives.
Cambodian leader Hun Sen announced last month that China would donate one million doses of its coronavirus vaccine to the kingdom -- which will cover 500,000 people because two doses are required. Cambodia plans to vaccinate at least 10 million of its 16 million population with shots from both China's Sinopharm and Sinovac as well as the British-Swedish AstraZeneca.
- AFP
