The Epidemiology Unit states that 21,989 persons were vaccinated on Saturday, of which 21,477 received the first dose of the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine and 512 persons received the second dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

The first dose of Sinopharm has been administered to 601,508 persons and 2,435 persons have received the second dose as well.

The first dose of AstraZeneca has been administered to 925,242 persons and 343,805 persons have received the second dose as well.

The first dose of Sputnik V has been administered to 14,984 persons. At present, 1,541,734 persons have received the first dose of the above vaccines and 346,240 persons have received the second dose as well.

Regarding an incident that took place on Saturday at the Abhayarama Temple in Narahenpita, where crowds gathered outside the premises for a vaccination drive organised by the temple, Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi said the program was not organised nor approved by the Health Ministry.

She added that the Ministry rejected any vaccination programs straying from proper procedure. Despite this, she said, “We were informed that persons had gathered to receive the vaccine. Because large gatherings of people affect COVID-19 control, we had to release a certain number of vaccines at 5.30 p.m.”

“The vaccination process in our country is carried out in an extremely scientific approach. We currently only have the second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine for kidney and cancer patients,” Wanniarachchi went on to say.

5,741 test positive for COVID-19 over the weekend