Saturday March 6, 2021
NAIROBI (HOL) - India said Saturday it was delivering COVID-19 vaccines to Somalia in line with its Vaccine Maitri initiative.
India’s Foreign Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said Saturday morning the delivery of the Indian-made vaccine was on its way to Somalia.
“Reaching across the Indian Ocean. Made in India vaccines arriving in Somalia,” the external affairs minister said in a tweet.’
There was no immediate comment from Somalia on the arrival of the vaccine.
Twenty-five nations across the world have already received Made-in India vaccines and forty-nine more countries will be supplied in the coming days according to Indian media.
The vaccine is expected to supplement the Oxford-Astrazenica version which is currently being distributed to African countries under the WHO Covax programme.
Meanwhile, the COVID-19 cases in Somalia continue to increase amid fears the containment measures are not sufficient to counter its spread.
The Ministry of Health said Saturday 191 new cases had been recorded in the last 24 taking the tally to 8041.
A further 20 people died within the same period, the Health Ministry said making it the highest number of deaths since the virus first landed in Somalia in 2021.