PHNOM PENH, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's vaccination drive is expected to cover 12 million people, or 75 percent of the kingdom's 16-million population by the end of this year, Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said on Friday.
Hun Sen said as the target of vaccinating 10 million adult population is close to be achieved as planned by November, the government is committed to achieving the goal of vaccinating 2 million adolescents aged 12-17 by the end of this year in order to build herd immunity.
"On behalf of the Cambodian government, I'd like to express my sincere appreciation to our friendly countries for providing vaccines to Cambodia timely, especially to the People's Republic of China, which is the leading country in providing vaccines in terms of both humanitarian donations and direct orders," he said at a national forum via videoconference.
Health ministry's secretary of state and spokeswoman Or Vandine said that as of Aug. 19, the country has administered at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccines to 9.38 million people, or 58.7 percent of the total population.
"About 86.12 percent of the 10 million targeted adults and 39.48 percent of the 2 million targeted adolescents have been vaccinated," she said.
The Southeast Asian nation confirmed 519 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, pushing the national total caseload to 88,242, the health ministry said, adding that 836 of the total cases were the Delta variant.
Fifteen more fatalities were reported, bringing the overall death toll to 1,762, the ministry said, adding that another 553 patients recovered, taking the total number of recoveries to 83,851. Enditem
