Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
    World
    Home / World / Asia-Pacific

    Chinese jabs bolster Sri Lanka's virus fight

    By ARUNAVA DAS in Kolkata, India and XU WEIWEI in Hong Kong | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2021-05-29 16:48
    Share
    Share - WeChat
    A staff member at a packaging plant for COVID-19 inactivated vaccine products in the Beijing Biological Products Institute Co Ltd in Beijing, China, Dec 25, 2020. [Photo/Xinhua]

    Timely arrival of Sinopharm vaccines aid island nation as infections peak

    The day Sri Lanka joined Buddhists worldwide in observing Vesak Full Moon Poya Day, a day of reverence to the Buddha, the tiny island nation received a "very special gift".

    Minutes before midnight on May 26, Sri Lankan Airlines flight UL 869 – carrying 500,000 Sinopharm vaccines – touched down at Bandaranaike International Airport north of the capital Colombo, followed by a buzz of celebration among waiting ministers and senior officials.

    The COVID-19 vaccines from Beijing were received by Qi Zhenhong, the Chinese ambassador to Sri Lanka, who handed them over to Sri Lanka's health minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi.

    Wanniarachchi said China has solidly stood by Sri Lanka in its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, at a brief handover ceremony held that night.

    These 500,000 Sinopharm vaccines were extremely valuable for the island country, she added. China had previously gifted a batch of 600,000 Sinopharm doses to the island nation on March 31.

    Ambassador Qi spoke of the need for building a strong global community for fighting COVID-19, which he described as a common enemy.

    Ravi Rannan-Eliya, executive director of the Colombo-based Institute for Health Policy, or IHP, said the current surge in Sri Lanka is driven by B.117, also known as the Kent variant, found in the United Kingdom.

    "There have been no reports yet of (the so-called) 'Indian' COVID-19 variant (B1.617.2) cases in the community, but genomic sequencing is very limited and it is possible (that it is) present in the community," he said.

    Coronavirus infections in Sri Lanka are at their peak – on May 23, the island nation reported 46 COVID-19 deaths – the highest single-day fatalities in the country so far, according to media reports.

    On May 28, 174,862 infections and 1,298 coronavirus-related deaths have been reported in the country since the pandemic began.

    The vaccine handover was in tune with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's insistence that a majority of Sri Lankans must be inoculated in the quickest possible time.

    President Rajapaksa has also indicated that Sri Lanka and China are on the same page.

    "Our cooperation with China is on par with our overall economic and commercial trajectories. China has been a key investment partner to Sri Lanka," Rajapaksa told the 26th International Conference on "The Future of Asia" in Tokyo on May 21. The forum discussed how Asia can enter a new era during this time of uncertainty.

    He also warned that the pandemic does not respect national boundaries. "If the virus is allowed to spread unchecked anywhere in the world, deadlier strains could emerge, and that will threaten the progress already made through inoculation elsewhere," Rajapaksa said.

    In his view, the speed of inoculation is key. "Production capacity must be significantly enhanced, and supply chain constraints must be overcome soon to allow the global rollout of vaccines in a short span of time. It is only if this is done that we will see an end to this catastrophe," Rajapaksa said.

    Palitha Kohona, Sri Lankan ambassador to China, thanked China for its timely assistance in an hour of unprecedented crisis. The envoy was informed by China's foreign ministry of the country's decision to donate a second batch of Sinopharm vaccines to Sri Lanka on May 19. Kohona called China a true friend, saying it has yet again come forward to help Sri Lanka.

    With Sri Lanka having set a target of vaccinating 60 to 70 percent of its people by the end of this year, the country's Cabinet of Ministers approved on May 25 the urgent purchase of 14 million Chinese Sinopharm and 1 million AstraZeneca vaccines.

    Sri Lanka, a country of only 22 million people, had administered around 1.79 million vaccines by May 26, according to Reuters. As of May 25, as many as 514,824 and 2,435 islanders respectively were given the first and second jabs of Sinopharm vaccines. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association has said that these jabs appear safe and effective.

    "Sinopharm is a good vaccine … better than AstraZeneca, according to (the World Health Organization's) evaluation," Rannan-Eliya of IHP said.

    Leading immunologist Neelika Malavige, who heads the Department of Immunology and Molecular Medicine at the University of Sri Jayawardanapura, also expressed her strong approval for the Sinopharm vaccine, saying it compares well with any other vaccine.

    The vaccine, which is made with inactivated viruses, has already been given to millions of people across the world.

    Appreciating the Chinese gesture, Rannan-Eliya said Sinopharm vaccines from China must be welcomed. "This (batch of Sinopharm vaccines) can cover at least 250,000 people," he explained.

    But the biggest help China could extend, according to Rannan-Eliya, a leading expert in health expenditure estimation and projection methods, is to loan and airlift to Sri Lanka some of its automated polymerase chain reaction testing machines, until the country can buy its own machines. Testing, he said, remains the most critical tool with which Sri Lanka can curb the dreaded infection's spread.

    "Sri Lanka failed to invest in testing capacity and now cannot increase testing to detect new cases," Rannan-Eliya said, adding that Chinese advice on how to stop the outbreak and help with testing equipment would be far more beneficial than sending personal protective equipment.

    Aruvana Das is a freelance journalist for China Daily.

    Most Viewed in 24 Hours
    Top
    BACK TO THE TOP
    English
    Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
    License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

    Registration Number: 130349
    FOLLOW US
    中文字字幕在线一本通| 一本加勒比HEZYO无码人妻| 亚洲av无码一区二区三区在线播放| 亚洲一级特黄无码片| 亚洲AV人无码激艳猛片| 欧美日韩中文国产va另类| 亚洲国产av无码精品| 国产热の有码热の无码视频| 无码丰满熟妇juliaann与黑人 | 国产丝袜无码一区二区三区视频| 亚洲精品无码你懂的网站| 欧洲精品久久久av无码电影| 无码八A片人妻少妇久久| 亚洲日本中文字幕| 亚洲欧美日韩、中文字幕不卡| 蜜臀av无码人妻精品| 国产AV无码专区亚洲AVJULIA| 亚洲中文字幕无码久久2017| 少妇中文无码高清| 佐佐木明希一区二区中文字幕| 中文字幕人妻色偷偷久久| 一本大道久久东京热无码AV| 久久精品无码专区免费| 国产亚洲精久久久久久无码AV| 久久精品中文无码资源站| 国产∨亚洲V天堂无码久久久| 无码少妇一区二区三区| 精品久久久无码21p发布| 婷婷五月六月激情综合色中文字幕| 亚洲制服中文字幕第一区| 中文字幕精品视频| 天堂√在线中文最新版| 欧美日韩中文字幕在线观看| 中文字幕日本精品一区二区三区| 久久受www免费人成_看片中文| 久久中文字幕精品| 亚洲中文字幕在线观看| 在线中文字幕av| 中文字幕不卡高清视频在线| 波多野结衣AV无码久久一区| 精品无码免费专区毛片|