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New Covid-19 variant: No major threat to SL  

31 Jan 2021

Sri Lanka is not facing a serious threat from the new variant of Covid-19 for the time being, assured State Ministry of Primary Health Care, Epidemics, and Covid Disease Control Secretary Dr. Amal Harsha De Silva. He told The Sunday Morning that the existing vaccines would be used against the new variant as well, until a new vaccine is developed to target the new variants. “We have a steady vaccination programme, and it is going on very well at present,” he added. Sri Lanka received the first 500,000 doses of a Covid-19 vaccine from India last week. The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was manufactured by the Serum Institute of India. Accordingly, 150,000 health workers, and 115,000 military and police troops will be the first to be inoculated. The Health Ministry plans to expand the vaccination campaign to 4,000 hospitals and health centres in other parts of the country next week. When queried about the next stocks of vaccines, Dr. De Silva noted that the State Minister of the Production, Supply, and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals Prof. Channa Jayasumana is taking necessary steps to bring down the next stocks within the next few months. “As of now, we are focusing on the vaccination programme, which began last week, and it is expected that the protection against the new strain could also be gained from the existing vaccination programme,” he added.


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