PHNOM PENH, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved 95 million U.S. dollars in loan for the Cambodian government to purchase COVID-19 vaccines from 2022 to 2023, it said in a press statement on Tuesday.
"The project will help Cambodia save lives by reducing the number of severe COVID-19 cases and accelerate the country's economic recovery from the pandemic," said ADB senior social sector specialist Rikard Elfving.
"ADB will also provide 1 million U.S. dollars in technical assistance to help Cambodia boost the effectiveness of logistics and supply management systems and reduce access barriers among women, girls, children, and hard-to-reach populations," he said.
In addition to the Asia Pacific Vaccine Access Facility (APVAX) loan, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is expected to provide co-financing of 50 million U.S. dollars subject to approval of their Board of Directors, the statement said.
To date, Cambodia has fully vaccinated 13.8 million people against COVID-19, or 86.2 percent of its 16 million population, according to the health ministry on Tuesday.
Some 6.08 million people, or 38 percent of the total population, have received their third dose or booster shot and 665,492 people, or 4 percent, have taken their fourth dose, the ministry said.
The Southeast Asian country registered a record 184 daily cases of the Omicron variant of the virus on Tuesday, the ministry said.
It said that since the pandemic hit it in January 2020, the country has confirmed a total of 124,139 COVID-19 cases, with 3,015 deaths and 119,196 recoveries. ■