BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq received its first 50,000 doses of the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine donated by China as the country is struggling to cope with a new surge of the disease. An Iraqi military transport plane carrying the first batch of the vaccines from China landed at Baghdad International Airport late on Monday. We thank and appreciate China for supporting the Iraqi people”, Health Minister Hassan al-Tamimi said during a ceremony to receive the consignment. Iraq recorded last month a sharp rise in COVID-19 infections, including confirmed cases of one of the newer variants of the novel coronavirus. The total number of COVID-19 cases in Iraq is around 700,000, including 13,428 deaths as of March 1.

Source: Egypt Independent March 02, 2021 12:00 UTC