• Total cases now at 246,269
• 31,715 patients under medical care
• Total recoveries rise to 218,998
• Prof. Jayasumana says WHO confirms 1 m doses of US-made Moderna vaccines to SL
• CMC will begin administering second dose of AstraZeneca vaccine for over 70 years from today

The country's COVID-19 cases exceeded 246,269 yesterday with the detection of 1,767 positive patients.

The COVID-19 total number of confirmed cases identified in the country rose to 246,629 yesterday, the Epidemiology Unit said. This includes COVID-19 positive patients reported from Divulapitiya, Peliyagoda, Prison and New Year clusters. Epidemiology Unit data showed that there are 31,715 patients under medical care, whilst another 2,158 persons being treated for COVID-19 have been discharged yesterday, increasing the country’s total recoveries to 218,998.

State Minister of Production, Supply and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals Prof. Channa Jayasumana said the World Health Organisation (WHO) yesterday confirmed to grant one million doses of Moderna COVID-19 vaccines to Sri Lanka under its COVAX facility.

Sri Lanka has administered the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine to over 2.6 million people and the second dose to 880,143 persons, the Epidemiology Unit data showed

Accordingly, Sri Lanka will receive three types of COVID-19 vaccines within next couple of weeks, which were not used previously. These include US manufactured Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and the China made Sinovac vaccine.

Meanwhile, the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) yesterday announced that it will administer the second dose of AstraZeneca vaccine for people over 70 years from today.

39 more COVID-19 fatalities push total to 2,944