Chinese vaccines brought in at the request of President: Army Chief

The Chinese vaccines were brought in at the request of the President and it will be first provided to Chinese nationals resident in Sri Lanka in close coordination with the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Sri Lanka, Army Chief and head of the COVId task force General Shavendra Silva said.

He said vaccination of Chinese nationals would start today, giving priority to them.

“The remaining 500,000 jabs from India will reach here by 10th April and it had to be postponed since the threat of COVID-19 in India worsened. However, vaccination would commence after 10th April”, NOCPCO Head assured.

He said this at the NOCPCO Task Force meeting attended by all members and experts in the field including Dr Asela Gunawardena, Medical Specialist and Director General of Health Services (DGHS).

He also pointed out that the government has ordered 13 million Russian jabs and stocks are expected by the last week of June and the full stock would reach here by August.

He also stressed the need to continue health practices, particularly during the forthcoming New Year festival season despite the drop in the detection of positive cases around the country.

He said the drop in the detection of positive cases was due to many reasons and the adoption of strict health procedures.

The Army Chief also said the Task Force closely reviewed the status quo, new developments and emergency measures in the face of detection of more and more positive cases and management of infiltration of the virus into new areas, behavioural patterns of the public.

He said every effort would be made to minimize the number of positive causes as per directions of the President in order to avoid inconvenience to the general public.