BUENOS AIRES (AP) – Argentina announced on Friday the signing of a new agreement with China to purchase 24 million doses of Sinopharm vaccines while establishing new restrictions on travel abroad for fear of the impact of the new Delta variant of the coronavirus.
“We have just signed a contract with Sinopharm for 24 million doses that will begin to arrive from July to continue escalating the vaccination process,” announced the Minister of Health, Carla Vizzotti.
This is the third contract signed by the South American country with the Beijing Institute of Biological Products in the last year. The previous two allowed the supply of more than ten million doses.
According to the government, the laboratory promised to deliver 8 million doses in July and the same amount in August and September. Figures for the agreement were not released.
Argentina has received a total of 25 million doses since vaccination began in late 2020. The country applies Sinopharm, AstraZeneca and Sputnik V vaccines.
The announcement was made at the end of a week in which Argentina exceeded 90,000 deaths from COVID and accumulated 4.3 million infections since the pandemic began.
Vizzotti highlighted “this role of vaccination to reduce hospitalizations and deaths to reach September with a significant percentage of the vaccinated population and we can, with warmer temperatures, begin to see significant relief.”
With the aim of delaying the entry of the Delta variant, the government reduced the income quota to the country from 2,000 to 600 people per day and extended the suspension of flights from the United Kingdom, India, Chile, Brazil, Turkey and Africa.
So far, health authorities reported that three people from abroad had been infected with the new variant of COVID that is keeping the world in suspense.
The borders will continue to be closed to foreigners and Argentines returning from abroad must isolate themselves in places determined by the provincial governments for seven days after arrival. The stay will be the responsibility of each passenger.
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