A Photo taken on April 17, 2021 shows boxes of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines at Phnom Penh International Airport in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. (Photo by Ly Lay/Xinhua)
A second batch of the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine that Cambodia purchased from China arrived in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, on Saturday.
Cambodia's Health Ministry secretary of state Yok Sambath received the vaccine, manufactured by Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech, at the Phnom Penh International Airport.
So far, Cambodia had received more than 3.6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from China and the World Health Organization-led COVAX Facility.
The kingdom launched an anti-COVID-19 inoculation drive on Feb. 10, focusing on high risk and vulnerable groups such as frontline doctors and health workers, civil servants, teachers, armed forces, journalists, garbage collectors and garment factory workers, among others.
As of Friday, 1.24 million people had been vaccinated against the virus, according to a government report.
Sambath said Cambodia is expected to acquire more than 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines in order to inoculate at least 10 million of its 16 million population.
The Southeast Asian nation has registered a total of 5,771 confirmed COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, with 3,311 receiving ongoing treatment and 39 confirmed deaths, the Ministry of Health said on Saturday.