Amid increasing COVID-19 infections cases in Sri Lanka, the Sri Lanka government announced on Wednesday that the country would receive 500,000 doses Astra-Zeneca COVID-19 vaccines from India on Thursday.

The country’s regulatory body, National Medicine Regulatory Authority, approved the Astra-Zeneca COVID-19 vaccine on January 22. The country also recently opened its border for tourism also.

“When you have one positive case about 10 health workers will need to be sent on quarantine. The system is collapsing day by day,” Dr. Haritha Aluthge from the Government Medical Officers' Association in Sri Lanka was recently quoted as saying by The Week.

Earlier, President Gotabaya Rajapakshe had announced that the vaccines would arrive on 27 January. However, the delivery seems delayed by one day under present circumstances.

Last week on Tuesday, India announced its VaccineMatri under which it supplied millions of COVID-19 vaccines to its neighbors and allies under the grant assistance program. At the time, the Indian External Affairs Ministry said it was still waiting for regulatory approval from Sri Lanka to dispatch its share of vaccines. 

Bangladesh, India’s eastern and the closest partner in the region, got the highest share of 5 million doses. Under the program, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Mauritius, Myanmar, and Seychelles have been offered vaccines from India.