Mongolia resumes COVID-19 vaccination campaign after arrival of Chinese vaccines

ULAN BATOR - Mongolia resumed its mass vaccination campaign against COVID-19 on Friday after the arrival of a batch of vaccines it purchased from China.

Mongolia launched its national vaccination campaign in late February, with the aim of vaccinating at least 60 percent of its 3.3 million population. So far, 649,000 people have been vaccinated against the virus.

The government on April 10 suspend COVID-19 vaccinations to avoid crowds amid the current nationwide lockdown, which is set to expire on Sunday.

"Our country received Chinese-made vaccines on Thursday night to advance the national vaccination. Therefore, the government has decided to resume the vaccination from Friday," Tseden-Ish Ganzorig, head of the government's press office, said in a statement.

Mongolia is expected to receive more doses of vaccines purchased from China on Friday, the official said.

As of Friday, Mongolia has registered 27,956 COVID-19 cases, with 76 related deaths.

The number of daily new COVID-19 cases in Mongolia has risen sharply since the beginning of April.

About 1,000 cases have been reported per day in the country in recent days, mostly in the capital Ulan Bator, which is home to over half of the country's total population.

The Asian country reported its first imported COVID-19 case in March 2020 and confirmed its first locally transmitted cases in November last year.