Speaker of Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena received the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at the Army Hospital in Narahenpita this morning (17).
The Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Gopal Bagley was also present while the vaccine was administered.
The Indian High Commissioner Gopal Bagley had arrived at the Speaker's official residence this morning and accompanied the Speaker to the Army Hospital, a Press release from the Parliament said.
“The Speaker administered this vaccine to encourage the people to receive the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine which is currently being administered in Sri Lanka. The vaccine was given as a gift from the Government of India to control the COVID pandemic”, the release said.
The Speaker thanked the Indian Government for providing this vaccine to Sri Lanka and had a discussion at length with the Indian High Commissioner on further strengthening Indo-Sri Lanka relations.
Twenty four Government and Opposition MPs have received the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine until noon yesterday.
Meanwhile some of the MPs have criticised the decision to provide the vaccine to MPs when the vulnerable groups were yet to be provided with the vaccine.
A Sri Lankan man was apprehended at Suvarnabhumi airport for attempting to smuggle wildlife out of the country after three ball pythons were found hidden in his underwear, the Bangkok post reported.
The UK government has unveiled a package of reforms to simplify imports from developing countries which allows for more garments manufactured in Sri Lanka to enter the UK tariff-free.
Read these and more on tomorrow’s edition of the Sunday Times
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