Over 50% of SL's population fully vaccinated against Covid

Colombo, Sep 16 Sri Lankan authorities have completed vaccinating over 50 per cent of the country's total population against Covid-19, Cabinet Co-Spokesperson Dullas Alahapperuma said.

Alahapperuma said Sri Lanka was one of the few countries that had vaccinated over 50 per cent of its total population, reports Xinhua news agency.

According to the Epidemiology Unit, 89.3 per cent of the population over the age of 30 had received both doses while in many districts, the percentage had exceeded 90 per cent.

Authorities said the vaccination in the 20 to 30 age group was also ongoing in the Western Province and in the Galle district in the south.

Official statistics showed that the Sinopharm vaccine was the leading vaccine used across the country with 10,778,875 vaccines administered as the first dose till Tuesday and 8,809,628 administered as the second dose.

Other vaccines being administered are AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna and Sputnik V.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa last week instructed authorities to complete vaccinating those above the age of 30 by this month.

Sri Lanka has to date detected 494,109 positive Covid-19 patients since March last year and 11,567 deaths.