All above 30 will be vaccinated by end of August, says President

COLOMBO (News 1st); Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa believes that by the end of August 2021, all those over the age of 30 in Sri Lanka will be vaccinated against COVID-19.

The President said the tourism industry will be able to commence operations from September 2021. Therefore, the Chinese people are invited to visit Sri Lanka again, the President further said, according to the President's Media Division.

The Government of China has donated another consignment of 1.6 million doses of the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine to Sri Lanka.

Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Qi Zhenhong officially handed over the vaccines to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Presidential Secretariat.

The two SriLankan Airlines flights UL869 and UL865 carrying the vaccine arrived at the Katunayake International Airport on Tuesday (27).

In addition to these vaccines, a stock of syringes has also been donated.

The vaccines were handed over to the Ministry of Health to be given to people over the age of 30 years in the Northern and Eastern Provinces.

72% of the vaccines used in the vaccination process in Sri Lanka are Sinopharm.

President Rajapaksa said that he highly appreciated the support provided by the Chinese Government for the control of COVID – 19 by donating 600,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccines on March 31, 500,000 on May 26, and 1.6 million doses today.