Japan on Tuesday said it would donate another one million AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses to Vietnam, where the daily increase in cases had hit new record highs.
The doses were expected to arrive at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City, the nation’s worst hit city on Saturday morning.
The donation follows two previous shipments of the AstraZeneca vaccine from Japan in June, bringing the total number of doses sent to three million.
Ho Chi Minh City, which is under strict transmission prevention and social distancing protocols, has emerged as the country’s virus epicentre.
The vast majority of new cases has been recorded in the southern metropolis, Health Ministry data shows.
Earlier, on Monday, Vietnam reported a record 2,367 new cases of coronavirus.
Some 33,000 employees at Taiwanese footwear maker, Pouyuen, had to stop working after cases were confirmed in the company’s factory in Ho Chi Minh City.
Vietnam has been praised internationally for its response to the pandemic, but after a month without any community transmission, local cases emerged again on April 27, and over 10,000 had been reported since.
The Vietnamese government gave private company, T&T group, permission on Monday to directly purchase 40 million doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, although the exact date they will arrive in Vietnam remains unclear.
The country has vaccinated no fewer than four million people of a population of 98 million. (dpa/NAN)
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