Cambodia receives new batch of China's Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine

Sinovac

PHNOM PENH, July 31 (Xinhua) -- A plane carrying a new batch of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine landed in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, on Saturday, giving another boost to the country in its vaccination drive.

Health ministry's secretary of state Yok Sambath, who welcomed the arrival of the vaccine at the Phnom Penh International Airport, said the jab was purchased from Chinese biopharmaceutical firm Sinovac Biotech.

China is the major vaccine supplier to the Southeast Asian nation, she said, adding that with the subsequent arrivals of the vaccines, the kingdom has enough jabs to sustain its inoculation drive.

Cambodia launched a COVID-19 vaccination drive on Feb. 10. To date, some 7.23 million people, or 72.3 percent, of the 10 million targeted adult population have received at least one dose of the vaccines, according to the health ministry.

The country reported 658 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, pushing the national total caseload to 77,243 so far, the health ministry said, adding that 22 new fatalities were recorded, taking the overall death toll to 1,397.

Another 798 patients had recovered, raising the total number of recoveries to 69,996, it added.