S Korea to donate 1.1m Astra doses

SEOUL: South Korea will donate 1.1 million doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid19 vaccine to Vietnam and 470,000 doses to Thailand, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said yesterday.

The donations come as South Korea has administered nearly 80% of its 52 million population with at least one dose of a vaccine, KDCA said in a statement.

Thailand’s cabinet yesterday acknowledged the Covid-19 vaccine donation from South Korea.

Traisuree Taisaranakul, deputy government spokeswoman, said the cabinet has assigned Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul to sign the donation agreement.

She said the donated vaccine will be prioritised for South Korean nationals in Thailand, though she stopped short of saying when the vaccines will arrive in the country.

Separately, the Public Health Ministry reported 9,445 new Covid-19 cases — 201 of which were found among prison inmates — and 84 deaths yesterday, down from 10,035 cases and 60 deaths reported on Monday.

A total of 11,452 Covid-19 patients were discharged from hospitals after recovering from the coronavirus on Monday, it said.

Since the third Covid-19 outbreak was declared in Thailand on April 1, the country has treated 1,701,501 patients, 1,576,929 of whom have recovered.

As of yesterday, the death toll during the third wave stands at 17,741.

In total, 17,835 people have died in Thailand since the beginning of the pandemic.

The latest deaths included a threemonth-old baby and a 92-year old. The baby did not have an underlying illness, the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration said in its afternoon briefing.

Bangkok accounted for 11 deaths while 17 were reported in the adjacent provinces of Samut Prakan (12), Nonthaburi (2), Samut Sakhon (2) and Pathum Thani (1).

Other Central Plain provinces accounted for 14 more deaths — Chon Buri (3), Chanthaburi (3), Ayutthaya (2), Suphan Buri (2), Rayong (2), Saraburi (1) and Samut Songkhram (1).