Sri Lanka is vaccinating children aged 18-19 against the coronavirus as it expands vaccinations for students.
Having started with the elderly, Sri Lanka has now vaccinated 57% of its population of 22 million.
Vaccinations with the “Pfizer” pump began on Friday for about 24,000 people in the 18-19 age group in the capital and its suburbs. Officials say vaccinations in Colombo will be completed within 21 days and they will start administering doses in other parts of the country next week.
Sri Lanka lifted the six-week lockdown on October 1 after COVID-19 cases and deaths declined. But schools remain closed, non-essential trips outside the home are restricted, public gatherings are prohibited and there are transportation restrictions.
At its peak, Sri Lanka was counting 3,000 daily infections and more than 200 deaths. Daily cases are now under 1,000 and deaths under 100.
The Indian Ocean island nation has reported more than 529,000 cases and 13,408 deaths.
(The title and image for this report may have been reworked only by the Business Standard team; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a shared feed.)
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