The first shot of the Sinopharm vaccine will be given to Royal Cambodian Armed Forces deputy commander-in-chief Lieutenant General Hun Manet today at Calmette Hospital.

Youk Sambath, a Health Ministry secretary of state, said Hun Manet will receive the first dose at 8am followed by his siblings Hun Manith and Hun Many as well as brothers-in-law Dy Vichea and Sok Puthivuth.

The others to receive the jabs today are also the Minister of Justice Keurt Rith, Minister of Environment,Say Samal and Phnom Penh governor Khuong Sreng.

Yesterday,  Sambath led a team to inspect the location at Calmette Hospital to ensure all preparations were in place for the vaccination drive to start effectively today.

The others also in line to be vaccinated today are senior officials aged between 18 and 59 years of age.

The vaccination drive is made possible with the arrival of the first batch of 600,000 vaccine doses from China on Sunday. The inoculation of the doses is for priority groups including journalists at four centres in the capital. The other three designated centres are Ang Duong Hospital for dignitaries such as undersecretarys of state or equivalent, the Khmer Soviet Friendship Hospital for dignitaries, Phnom Penh and provincial governors and the National Pediatric Hospital for journalists.

The Ministry of Defence, which received 300,000 doses, will start vaccinating military leaders recommended by Prime Minister Hun Sen and those under the direct supervision of Defence Minister General Tea Banh and eligible groups, on a voluntary basis at Ket Mealea Hospital from 2pm onwards.

In a statement issued by General Neang Phat, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Defence, it said they would inform all other Armed Forces Unit officers and soldiers of the date, time and place they are to get their jabs of the COVID-19 vaccine.

“I would like to invite the leaders, officers, deputies and soldiers of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces to participate in this voluntary vaccination campaign to support the Royal Government’s goal of protecting the health and promoting the well-being of our troops,” he said.

The Ministry of Health, which received 300,000 doses of the vaccine yesterday, said that the Inter-Ministerial Commission for the fight against COVID-19 and the inter-ministerial working group on the implementation of the COVID-19 vaccination strategy and cooperation will launch a vaccination campaign today to inoculate those under the ministry in stages.

The ministry also introduced nine key points on how the vaccination will be carried out as per the protocol of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign.

Meanwhile, the ministry said two women on a flight from American who arrived in Cambodia via South Korea tested positive on Sunday and are being treated at Chak Angre Health Centre in Phnom Penh.

One of the victims is a 19-year-old Cambodian woman, residing in Phnom Penh’s Por Senchey district.

The 90 passengers on the same flight as the two women have been quarantined at two different hotels in the capital.

Besides the two women who were tested positive, a 26-year-old Chinese woman who arrived in Cambodia on February 7 from China via South Korea and was quarantined at a hotel in Phnom Penh was also tested positive and being treated at the National Centre for Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control in the capital.

A 24-year-old Indonesian man who arrived from Indonesia via Singapore on January 12 and tested positive has been discharged from the National Centre for Tuberculosis.

As of yesterday, a total of 476 COVID-19 cases have been reported in the Kingdom with 457 discharged and 19 still hospitalised.

• Tags: COVID-19 vaccine, Hun Manet, Sinopharm