A worker transports Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine at the Phnom Penh International Airport in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Sept. 4, 2021. Cambodia on Saturday received an additional 2.5 million doses of China's Sinovac vaccine against COVID-19 as the Southeast Asian country continued to fight the pandemic. (Photo by Phearum/Xinhua)
PHNOM PENH, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia on Saturday received an additional 2.5 million doses of China's Sinovac vaccine against COVID-19 as the Southeast Asian country continued to fight the pandemic.
A plane carrying the new batch of Chinese vaccine arrived at the Phnom Penh International Airport shortly before 10 a.m. local time, said Ministry of Health (MoH) Secretary of State Yok Sambath.
She said the new batch included 2 million doses purchased from the Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech by the Cambodian government, and 500,000 doses donated by the company.
"This new humanitarian donation from the government and people of China, an iron friend, truly reflects profound friendship, traditional solidarity and comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation between Cambodia and China," she said.
She added that the Cambodia-China joint COVID-19 fight would undoubtedly contribute to building the community of shared future between the two countries.
China is the major vaccine supplier to Cambodia. To date, the kingdom has acquired a total of 29.5 million vaccine doses from friendly countries and the World Health Organization's COVAX Facility, of which 26.8 million doses are from China.
Cambodia launched a COVID-19 vaccination campaign in February, targeting to inoculate 12 million people or 75 percent of its population by the end of this year.
As of Sept. 3, some 11 million people, or 69 percent of the total population, had received at least one vaccine dose, while 8.72 million of them had received both required shots and 648,269 had also got a third dose or booster dose, the MoH said.
The country confirmed 422 new COVID-19 cases including 138 imported ones on Saturday, bringing the total tally to 94,839, the MoH said, adding that 13 more fatalities were reported, bringing the overall death toll to 1,950.
An additional 376 patients recovered, raising the total number of recoveries from the coronavirus epidemic to 90,273 in the country, the MoH added. Enditem
