Vietnam gets vaccine boost from Germany as Asean Covid cases increase
Southeast Asia reported fewer deaths despite a slight increase in Covid-19 cases on Sunday.
Asean countries logged 78,170 new cases, higher than Saturday’s 76,029. There were 1,509 deaths, down from Saturday’s 1,781.
The number of Covid-19 cases crossed 10.45 million, while the death toll rose to 232,174.
Vietnam’s foreign ministry announced that the German government on Friday had pledged to gift the country 2.5 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine. Germany had earlier announced gifts of 75 ventilators, 15 medical monitors, and 20,000 oxygen meters for Vietnam, its strategic partner since October 2011. To date, Germany has been the biggest vaccine donor among EU member nations to Vietnam. Earlier, European nations including the UK, Poland, and the Czech Republic had supplied Covid vaccines to Vietnam.
Meanwhile, Laos confirmed 172 new cases on Sunday. Total number of cases stands at 15,933 with death toll at 16. Some 56 cases of community spread of Covid-19 were recorded in Laos, while 116 cases were imported. Authorities have increased disease control measures, which included a ban on social gathering to curb the climbing infection rate.