Thailand’s Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) on February 11 approved a proposal to donate up to 3.55 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to six countries, including Viet Nam.

The others are Myanmar, Laos, Nepal, Kenya, and Ethiopia.

In response to Thailand's signalling to the World Health Organization (WHO) its readiness to donate vaccines to other nations in need via the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX), the WHO has permitted the country to proceed with donating to the six countries directly, said Dr Taweesilp Visanuyothin, spokesman for the CCSA.

Following the approval by the CCSA, around 3.5 million doses of the vaccine will be delivered to those countries, he said.

Thailand will donate 500,000 to 1 million AstraZeneca doses to Myanmar, 300,000 to Laos, 300,000 to Viet Nam, 400,000 to Nepal, 550,000 to Kenya, and 1 million to Ethiopia.

On February 12, Thailand logged in 16,330 new COVID-19 cases and 25 related deaths, raising the total caseload to nearly 2.58 million and death toll to over 22,400.

As of February 8, more than 52 percent of some 35,500 schools across Thailand had reopened and resumed in-person classes. According to the CCSA, nearly 100 percent of the teachers have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot and 79.45 percent vaccinated twice. For the students, the figures are 95.11 percent and 71.41 percent, respectively.

Source: VNA