Maduro Says More Than 6Mln COVAX Vaccines To Arrive In Next Few Days

CARACAS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd August, 2021) Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro assured the nation that in the coming days 6,200,000 vaccines purchased by his government through the WHO-led vaccine-sharing COVAX mechanism will arrive in the country.

"There are 6,200,000 compatriots who are going to be vaccinated with the vaccines that we have bought from the WHO COVAX system, they have already established a schedule, they have already bought the vaccines and in the next few days the planes will begin to arrive with the vaccines from the COVAX system," Maduro said on the state channel Venezolana de Television on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Venezuelan vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, said that about 19 % of the population had been vaccinated to date.

"We are already approaching 19% of vaccination and people over 40 can send a text message with their identity card number to schedule a vaccination appointment through a [special governmental telephone] number," she explained.

The government also reported that in the last week there were four more cases of the Delta coronavirus variant, all of them originating from abroad, prompting it to alert the population to measures needed be taken to prevent a rapid spread of the disease.

According to Johns Hopkins University, the death toll in Venezuela has risen to 3,607 people, and the number of detected cases to more than 300,000 people.